Communication is essential for every individual, there are many factors that can have an effect on a person's ability to communicate ; things such as emotional distress, dialect, health problems, language differences, environmental problems, cultural differences, disability, sensory deprivation and jargon, slang and acronyms. These factors are known as barriers to communication because they prevent people to communicate with each other There are many factors that can put a stop to communication with a child, for example Sensory deprivation and disability.This means visual and hearing can be harmed when communicating.
Problems with sight or hearing can mean that signs can't be seen, leaflets can't be read or conversations can't be heard, also this tend to limit the individual's ability to communicate verbally and to interpret other people's non verbal communication. To try and overcome this barrier you will have to make the child feel as any other child in the classroom and try not to single that child out.However it may help on occasions if all the children worked together and tried to learn things such as sign language to communicate with that child. Also it would be good if that child is made to get involved with everything possible to improve on his/her communication with others. Whilst I was on work experience I came across a little girl aged 3 that was deaf that would not talk much or get involved with activities as much as the other children.
When I talked to her or instructed her to do something she did not always hear me and would not follow instructions and do as she pleases.This made it harder to overcome the barrier because I was not able to make myself clear to her as I had never experienced anything like this before. To over come this barrier myself, a few other children and a member of staff would do things that involved role play at this made it easier for everyone to communicate with each other. As that particular member of staff knew how to use sign language she would teach the other children whilst the role play and myself and then we all would copy and use it whilst talking to that little girl which always made her much more happier and involved throughout the role play.Another factor that may prevent communication with a child is environmental problems such as a physical environment that is noisy, uncomfortable, has poor lighting or lacks privacy as this reduces people's ability to communicate effectively with each other.
Noisy environments affect a child's ability to listen and concentrate and also adults. Poor lighting can affect our ability to notice non verbal communication and could reduce a hearing impaired person's ability to lip read.Environments that are too hot or cold cause children 'to play up'. Environments that lack privacy put off children from expressing their feelings and problems and this is important especially if it is a serious concern, to overcome this barrier all the children should be taught to go and ask a member of staff for some 'quiet time' where they can express their feelings to that member of staff and also the temperature should always be checked and put on the appropriate temperature for that particular day.To overcome the barrier with noise there should be two separate rooms for work and play where children who want to work should be able to concentrate and achieve to the best of their ability.
Whilst I was on work experience a different barrier I was faced was that half of the children were interested in making loud noises and playing with toys and the other half who were interested in doing some written work were unable to concentrate with all the noise that was around them.A few children would usually come up to me and say "its too noisy can you please tell the other children to be quiet", this therefore put me in a difficult position as children are all different and learn in different ways so therefore I could not tell them to stop 'learning'. In my opinion I think my work placement nursery should have had two separate rooms as this would resolve this problem.
