Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults. Question 1 How might your behaviour impact negatively on interactions with children/young people? (1. 4 b) It is very important, as a Teaching Assistant, to communicate effectively with the children you are working with. This includes speaking and listening. Children can pick up from your body language, for example crossed arms, bored facial expressions that you are not listening to them and it will make them feel that they are not worth anything and they will stop trying to communicate with you.
There's a specialist from your university waiting to help you with that essay.
Tell us what you need to have done now!
order now
The child will only respond positively to you if he/she feels that they are valued and what they are saying is important. You need to show them that you are interested in what they have to say. When you are talking to a child you must use eye contact and get down to the level of the child. Use language that they will understand and take into consideration their age and understanding otherwise the child will not listen to what you are saying and quickly lose interest. In summary ineffective communication with children will leave them feeling undervalued, unimportant and they will suffer from low self-esteem. Question 2
Give 4 examples of communication difficulties that may exist then explain how you can adapt your communication to overcome these. (3. 3 & 3. 4) (If you have completed this in a class activity you do not need to answer) Question 3 How would you deal with a disagreement between the practitioner and a child/ young person (3. 5a) As a Teaching Assistant it is very important for me to be able to deal with a disagreement with a child. Firstly I think it is important to listen carefully and positively to the child to try to understand what it is that is making the child so angry with you and to give them the time to calm themselves down.
This may only take a couple of minutes or it could carry on. As a TA it is important to stay patient and keep a cool head as it is very important not to get into a head to head argument with the child. When responding to the child it is important that you do not shout and try to keep your body language positive. If you think that the child is still behaving unreasonably you must tell them so in a clear, concise manner. You may have to say something like “If you don’t calm down now I will have to ask you to leave the classroom”.
You may also have to ask another teacher to intervene if you feel that you cannot resolve the situation yourself as the child has got a personal problem with you. If the child does have a personal problem with you, it is important that you try and see this from the child’s point of view. It may be that they are right, and there is something that you are doing which is causing the child to be angry. If so it will be crucial that you deal with this issue immediately. Other evidence will be collected through direct observations, reflective accounts- for further guidance refer to portfolio pack.
