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Starting School: Communication Skills

Posted on Jun 19, 2020

If you have a child starting Primary School in September and are preparing for Starting Big School - Communication Is Key!

As parents we all desire the very best for our children as they start school. Teachers and parents together need to play a role in achieving this goal. Everyone involved in the settling in period needs to communicate effectively and children need this skill too so they can cope better in school. Communication skills develop from birth and parents are nurturing these skills from these precious early days. Being an effective communicator is hugely beneficial as children are going through the transition.

So simply, what do we know about communication?

It is usually a two way process
It may use a mixture of language, facial expressions and gesture
It may be used to express needs, concerns, feelings and ideas
Listening skills are key

Listening skills are easily overlooked and they are actually easy to develop with simple activities and games. In present day, some children may be over exposed to screen time and similar stimuli that can be overwhelming. This in turn can affect their concentration span and overall cognitive development.

Children need good communication in school so that they can:

Join in effectively with play
Build friendships
Express their feelings and needs
Follow instructions
Participate in learning

Try developing your child’s listening and language skills by:

Saying their name to gain and wait for their full attention.
Talking about their interests and activities
BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL… Listening carefully when they are speaking and get down to their level
Not instantly correcting but responding by repeating back with improvements eg: “want go toilet” “you want to go to the toilet?’
Make games of giving simple instructions around the home that need to be followed
Identifying sounds on walks to promote listening skills.
Sharing books
Listening to audio stories

Effective communication skills enable children to build friendships at school and develop their social skills. In order to make and keep friendships children need adults to encourage further skills to develop social skills in preparation for starting school.

Communicate
Understand the boundaries of acceptable behaviour
Be kind
Take turns and share
Begin a conversation
Understand the feelings of others

All of these skills can be encouraged by:

Playing with their peer group
Playing board games and puzzles
Reading social stories and books about friends
Using timers for taking turns and sharing
Watching programmes and listening to stories then discussing how characters are feeling

If your child experiences difficulties with communicating it is well worth speaking to their class teacher as they will have a bank of ideas and tactics that may help overcome any potential stumbling block and if needed put you in contact with appropriate support services.

Stamptastic in partnership with Jo and Lisa, look forward to taking you on this journey to support your child develop the necessary skills to feel smart and confident from day one at BIG school.

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