The first thing we need to take into an account when communicating with children or young person’s is their stage of the development. The other thing we need to take into an account is if the child has any special needs which would influence their development stage. Our behaviour towards child aged 3 years old will be fundamentally different than our behaviour towards young person aged 16 years old. As school curriculum we can split the stages of the development into 3 groups, foundation and key stage 1, key stages 2 and finally key stages 3 and 4.
Foundation and key stage 1 cover age group from 2 to 7 years old. When we are interacting with children at this ages we need to take into an account that children are still fairly young and are still developing their behavioural skills such as communication. We should lower ourselves to their level when talking or explaining something to them, so we are not talking over their heads and they would have to look up at us. Our sentences should be shorter and clearly explained in simpler language, which the children would understand. We will be explaining, repeating and reminding them the ways how to communicate, when to listen and when to speak.
Key stage 2 covers age group from 7 to 11 years old. At this ages, children can follow set of instructions and their language is more elaborate. At this age group we should encourage children to express their opinions and give us examples how or why they reached them. We should carry on introducing new words as they will help them express themselves more clearly and in more detail.
Key stages 3 and 4 cover age group from 11 to 16 years old. At this age children have mastered the basic communication skills and are able to express themselves most of times. When communicating with this age group we should not talk them down or patronise them. We should communicate with them as we would with adults, use negotiation, discussion and way to how to reach a compromise to further their communication skills.
At any times we are communicating with children or young adults we should maintain eye contact and be focused on the their are saying as this shows that we interested what they have to say.
