If you little one isn’t a big talker compared to their friends, have you ever considered it might be a simple case of poor communication? According to Jaclyn Smith, Learning Vision Curriculum Specialist for Busy Bees Preschool, one of the best things you can do to help your child become an effective communicator is to become a good listener! They share top tips on how you can listen more effectively to help your child get their point across. You never know, it might also lead to less tantrums!
1. Play along
Using the child’s lead, learn to improvise, play along and chat with your child; even if you’re talking about flying green sheep! For effective communication, experts say when any information is received from a partner, it’s essential to first accept it as a fact, regardless of how illogical or nonsensical it may appear at face value, then add and contribute to that information. This practise is especially relevant to conversations with children…as they might want to talk about topics that initially make no sense!
2. Accept Information
Children tend to share thoughts and ideas, based on a creative expression, an idea or a fantasy. Regardless of how different their responses or ideas vary from our expectations or logic, it’s important to accept, acknowledge, affirm and then slowly scaffold those views. It’s helpful for us to re-think the way we socialise with children. Instead of belittling or trying to change their ideas in discussion, it’s sometimes more meaningful to simply play along and enjoy the experience of sharing information, rather than focussing solely on the content of the conversation.
4. Allow Strong Personal Opinions
Encourage children to share their own unique opinions and provide them with as many opportunities to explore and experiment with language.
Encourage your child to re-tell stories, share familiar narratives, and share personal thoughts and feelings about experiences they’ve had. The day-to-day routine of activities and conversations encourages children to form opinions and thoughts on things that are relevant and meaningful to them. Engaging children in the decision-making process also plays a significant role in supporting the development of children as confident communicators, as they learn to recognise that their views and opinions matter.
5. Book a spot on Busy Bee Preschool’s Learning Vision Linguistics and Communication Discovery Workshop
Designed to help parents better understand their child’s language milestones and what they can do to encourage good communication skills. Parents will get to observe their child respond to the tailored child-directed one hour workshop. They will be a part of a guided interactive session designed to promote linguistics and communication abilities.
During the session, parents will have the chance to discover and analyse their child’s natural strengths, together with the preschool’s curriculum experts. Since it’s a tailored workshop, parents will be asked to send in three questions they have about linguistics and communication prior to the workshop. Their questions will be answered during the workshop.
Learning Vision
Kent Ridge, 81 Science Park Drive, The Chadwick, #01-03
6781 0888
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