Each person lives in society and occupies a specific place in it. Therefore, he always has certain relations with other people. Thanks to the process of communication, we begin to understand ourselves and others, and also evaluate their actions and feelings. All this ultimately allows each of us to realize ourselves as a person and take our own place in the society in which we live.
However, a characteristic feature of the modern era is the replacement of live communication, so necessary for a person, by electronic communications. Many babies who have not yet reached the age of two easily master parental smartphones and tablets. At the same time, some children have socio-psychological problems in terms of communication. They do not know how to do this and, as it seems at first glance, do not want to do this at all.
The insufficient development of communication skills in preschool children is a cause for serious concern for teachers and psychologists. After all, communication is a mandatory attribute, without which the development of the human personality becomes impossible. That is why this article is sure to be useful to those parents who want their baby to successfully develop their communication skills. This will allow him to remove obstacles in communication with peers and adults.
About Communication
What does this concept mean? The very word "communication" came to us from the Latin language. In it, communicatio means "transmission, communication", and communicare - "transmit, communicate, talk, make common."
From a scientific point of view, the term “communication” can be clarified by giving it various definitions. So, in philosophy, communication is understood as communication. That is, information exchange carried out between living organisms. This process is diverse and complex, implying the establishment of contacts between different people, as well as their development. This type of communication is also called intergroup or interpersonal. Its specific name will depend on the number of participants. Communicative skills of people allow them to express their feelings, opinions, ideas. They are also necessary for a person to understand the meaning of what has been done for him or told him.
According to the opinions of specialists in the field of psychology, communication is the ability of an individual to communicate with others, regardless of their age, cultural and social education, development and level of life experience.
In addition, such skills are also referred to as effective communication skills. Such skills express the degree of ease of establishing contacts between individuals or their entire groups. Communicative skills also illustrate a person’s ability to maintain a conversation, assert their legal rights, and agree on something. Sinton communication (non-conflict, friendly and neutral) also belongs to such skills.
Communication skills in children
Every person is able to communicate to one degree or another from an early age. So, a crying baby who is trying to get his mother to pay attention to him begins to enter into communicative relationships and socially interact with other people. Nevertheless, crying to achieve success for a small person is clearly not enough. It is very important that over time the baby begins to effectively build communication with other people.
What are the communication skills that children have? According to psychologists, the success of the formation and consolidation of communicative communication skills in children depends on several factors. Among them:
- The desire to communicate. The implementation of communication without motivation is impossible. Confirmation of this can be autism. These patients have no intellectual problems. They just lack the motivation to open their inner world to others. Autistic psychologically developed. However, they lack social development.
- The ability to listen to your interlocutor and hear him. For the implementation of communication it is very important to show interest in others and understand what they want to communicate.
- Emotional interaction. Effective communication becomes impossible without empathy and empathy.
- Knowledge of the rules of communication and the ability to apply them in practice. There are some unwritten norms that in different societies may have some differences. The development of communication skills in preschool children is possible only if they will be familiar with these standards. Otherwise, in the future they will certainly have difficulties in establishing social ties. For example, a child should be polite. Anyone who ignores this rule will become a bully in the eyes of others.
To develop communication skills in preschool children, psychologists recommend that parents limit their time in front of a computer monitor, TV screen or tablet. It was found that those kids who practically do not part with gadgets do not know how to communicate. Interacting with such devices, the child perceives the information submitted to him passively. For the development of communication skills in preschool children this is clearly not enough. It has already been proven that kids who play computer games too often speak worse than their peers. In addition, it is difficult for them to understand the emotional reaction of others to certain events and actions.
Stages of development of communication skills
The communication skill of each person should develop from childhood. This allows the personality to form. And thanks to other people, a person begins to know and evaluate himself.
The development of communication skills in preschool children is carried out through several successive stages. Let's consider them in more detail.
Situational-personal communication
Babies are ready for this form of communication at the age of about 2-3 months. It arises due to the needs of the child in the attention of adults. In infancy, such communication is leading.
This first form of communication skills manifests itself in the “revitalization complex”. These are various emotionally positive reactions of the baby to an adult. They are accompanied by active movements, a smile, fixing the look on the approaching person, listening to his voice, as well as vocalization. Such manifestations indicate the development of the first communicative skills of young children. Contact with an adult is very necessary for the child, which is why the baby needs it.
Situational-business communication
The next stage in the development of socio-communicative skills in children begins at about six months of life crumbs. At this time, a situational-business form is developing that allows the baby to communicate with adults at a new level. It exists up to 3 years of a child’s life.
Communicative communication skills of children at the indicated age consist in the need for cooperation in the framework of the subject-tool activity that prevails in them during this period of life. The main reason for contact between a child and an adult is now a common thing for both. They are practical cooperation. That is why of all the motives for communication, business is highlighted.
The child, together with the adult, who for him is the organizer and assistant of the activity, manipulates the objects at his disposal. They also perform complex actions with their application.
An adult at the same time shows the baby what he can do with various things and how to use them. At the same time, the qualities of objects are revealed to the child, which it would hardly have been possible to discover the crumb independently.
Nonverbal stage
The above stages of the development of children's communicative skills pass without the use of speech. Of course, this form of contact is available to people of any age. However, according to scientists, children are characterized by the most striking facial expressions due to the lack of a framework of norms and conventions. This ability becomes especially important when establishing contact with their peers. Younger preschoolers still can not meet a new friend and agree with him about something through speech. And here, facial expressions come to the aid of the kids, which serves as a kind of improvised means for them. So, being in the sandbox, the preschooler smiles at his new acquaintance, thereby inviting him to sculpt cakes together. Confirming such a proposal is also quite simple. A mold or spatula is extended to a new friend.
In addition, babies always strive to show what they already know. They try to attract attention with the help of touches, and hands are used to demonstrate the sand castle.
Preschoolers, as a rule, also try to show their sympathy or antipathy nonverbally. If they love someone, then this person gets kisses and hugs. Those children and adults who do not use the location of the preschooler, see his frowning forehead. In addition, the child can simply turn away or hide behind her mother.
The occurrence of speech
At the next stage in the development of communication skills in children, the transformation of objective activity occurs. The child begins to master the speech. You can talk about a new stage in the development of communication that occurs between a child and an adult when the baby begins to ask its first questions: “Why?”, “Where?”, “Why?”, “How?”. This form of communication is non-cognitive. It occurs in the younger, as well as in the middle pre-school period. This is 3-5 years old. The formation of children's communication skills is due to their need for respectful attitude of adults. Cognitive motives induce the appearance of such communication of the child. With its help, children expand the scope of the world that is accessible to their knowledge. Also, for children, the relationship of events and causal relationships between phenomena and objects opens. The guys are increasingly attracted to what is happening in the social sphere.
Communicative and speech skills of children are developing more and more with the replenishment of their vocabulary. The child continues to send non-verbal signals. However, he already adds the simplest explanations to them, for example: “My typewriter” or “Rash of sand in a bucket”.
Four-year-old preschoolers can easily pronounce narrative sentences. When communicating with their peers, they become involved in society. At the same time, they joyfully state: “We are running,” “We are rolling,” etc.
Five-year-olds starting to invite peers into the game are actively using sentences with more complex designs. They can say the following: “Let's play at the store. You will be a seller, and I will be a buyer. ”
Sometimes when communicating younger preschoolers, conflict situations arise. As a rule, their childish egocentrism provokes them. This happens, for example, when the baby does not agree to give his toy. A conflict situation can also be created by children who see a beautiful doll or toy car from another child. They want to immediately receive the item of interest. In both cases, adults should be around, explaining to the preschooler how to ask his peer to share the toy. It is also important to teach small communicators polite phrases that are accepted in society to regulate communication.
The verbal communication skills of preschool children develop especially well by the age of five. At this age, the kids already quite fully master the connected speech, and also begin to realize how important the words are for communication. At this stage, communication skills become especially important for a small person.
Extra-personal form
The communicative skills of older preschool children are characterized by the appearance of a higher form of communication in this age period. It is called the non-situational-personal. It arises due to the need for empathy and mutual understanding.
The dominant motive for communication in this case is personal. This form of communication has a direct relationship with the highest conditions in preschool age in the development of gaming activities. The child begins to pay more attention to the features that occur in interpersonal relationships, that is, those that exist at work with parents, in his family, etc.
Communication skills in older preschool children are characterized by the fact that the kids are already beginning to navigate well in the peer group. In addition, they establish a diverse relationship with the people who surround them. Among the characteristics of children with communication skills that are up to standard, one can single out their excellent mastery of the rules of communication, as well as the concept of their duties and rights. Such a child quickly joins the moral and moral values of society.
Interpersonal contacts in the children's team of younger preschoolers
In addition to communicating with teachers and parents, children need communication with peers. Moreover, personal interaction in groups of an early age period also has dynamics.
The communicative skills of children of primary preschool age are still not well developed. That is why in such groups it is often possible to observe that the kids carry out their activities nearby, but not together. This stage is called precooperation. Communicating with peers, each of the kids at the same time implements a process of subject-reflective actions. They drive only their typewriter, rock only their chrysalis, etc.
With the development of communication skills in children of primary preschool age, joint actions gradually arise between them. Nevertheless, at the first stage this is only a mechanical merger and complicity, in which mutual coordination is expressed to a minimum extent.
With the development of social and communicative skills in children, all their joint actions in the group begin to acquire elements of cooperation. This is manifested in the establishment of selective and emotional contacts with their peers. The unification of children in this case is based on common gaming interests. An important role in the proper organization of such communication belongs to adults.
The development of communication skills in children gives rise to a subjective attitude towards their peers. They become partners in joint activities, playing without which is simply not interesting.
During this period, the child is actively developing self-awareness as a subject participating in joint activities. This process is most noticeable in games of a plot-role type. It is in them that preschoolers are guided both by the plot and by their peers with their level of skills and capabilities, with a sphere of interests.
As communication skills develop in preschool children, they can observe a desire to establish cooperation in order to reach a common goal. At the same time, the first gaming associations in their life are created, which in most cases are very unstable. Dyads prevail in babies, and triads are much less common.
The main requirement that is imposed on a peer before taking him into a joint game is his knowledge of the necessary skills. Moreover, each child determines his attitude to his peer, based on more emotional than rational motives. The actions of another are evaluated quite simply. Gave a toy - good.
To make value judgments, and, consequently, to build value relationships, adults help children. Younger preschoolers often turn to them to clarify the rules of interaction.
By the fifth year of life, the bonds between children are further strengthened, becoming more stable. They begin to show sympathy and antipathy.
Socio-communicative skills of children in primary preschool age are usually of an emotional and practical form.The main reason for communicating with each other are joint games, classes, as well as the performance of various household duties. Preschoolers seek to attract attention, as well as get their mark. At the same time, selectivity in communication is also noticeable.
Interpersonal contacts in a group of senior preschoolers
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In the fifth year of life, games of a plot-role type become truly collective. Moreover, they begin to be built on the basis of cooperation. A child at this age does everything so that peers pay attention to him. And here in the communication between the children a phenomenon arises that is called the “invisible mirror”. In his peer, the child sees himself, and on the positive side. This situation is changing somewhat later, by the sixth year of life. The kid is already beginning to see his peer, and most of all the shortcomings of the latter. A similar feature in the perception of babies in the group is combined with a zealous interest in all their actions and actions.
The development of communicative skills of preschool children leads to the fact that at 6-7 years old, in their communication with peers, an extra-situational-business type of communication begins to appear. At the same time, the child not only considers specific typical situations, but also generalizes the idea of the world around him.
Diagnosis of communication skills
To understand the level of interaction of the child with people, it is necessary to determine its activity, contact, development of speech and knowledge of the world. For this, the diagnosis of children's communicative skills is used. You can implement it using the following method.
The teacher will need to bring the child to the room where there is a table with toys and books laid out on it. An adult needs to ask the baby what he would prefer to do:
- play with toys;
- read a book;
- to talk.
After this, the teacher should organize the activity to which the baby gave his preference. Then the child must be offered one of the two remaining types of activities. In the event that an independent choice will not be made, the teacher should offer the baby to play first, and then read. And only after that it will be possible to talk. It is necessary that each of the described actions lasts for 15 minutes.
During the diagnosis, the teacher needs to fill out an individual protocol for the child (one sheet for each situation). If the kid will constantly choose a game for himself, without showing any interest in the book and personal communication, then the adult needs to gently, but at the same time, insistently invite him to change the type of activity.
The following indicators of the baby's behavior should be recorded on the protocol page:
- order of choice of action;
- what the child paid special attention to at the very beginning of the diagnosis;
- the level of activity shown in relation to the selected object;
- level of comfort during the experiment;
- analysis of verbal statements of a preschooler;
- the duration of the activity that has become desirable for the child.
The allocation of types of communication is done according to the preference of a particular situation;
- when choosing a game - situational-business type of communication;
- when deciding to look at a book - non-substitutive business communication;
- when choosing a conversation - communication of an extra-personal-personal plan.
In determining the leading form of communication, all indicators are evaluated in points. Attention is also paid to the content and topic of speech utterances. After that, for each of the sheets of the protocol, the teacher needs to calculate the total amount of points. The form of communication, which scored a greater number of them, is considered the leading one.
In each of the actions, the total score set on a four-digit scale is calculated.
Given all this, the teacher determines the level of formation of communication skills. It may be as follows:
- High. In this case, the child interacts quite easily not only with his peers, but also with adults. His speech utterances have an extra-situational, social and personal character with a valued opinion. A child with a high level of communication skills is usually the initiator of the conversation. In the process of communication, he feels and behaves quite relaxed. The main object of his attention in the first minute of diagnosis is another person. Moreover, in relation to him, activity is manifested in the form of speech utterances in the form of questions of a cognitive nature. Such a preschooler prefers conversations on personal topics that last 15 minutes or more.
- Average. At this level of development of interpersonal communication skills, a preschooler interacts with his peers and with adults. During the conversation, he feels quite calm. The main objects of his attention can constantly change. That is, the child switches attention from a person to toys and books. The manifestation of activity takes place in the examination of the selected object and in touching it. The speech of a preschooler with an average level of development of communication abilities is filled with evaluative statements. He also likes to ask non-situational and situational questions. Such a baby prefers considering toys and books, as well as interacting with them, which lasts about 10-15 minutes.
- Low. Such a child interacts with great difficulty. With adults, this happens only on their initiative. With peers, such a child has no contact at all. He prefers singles, without accompanying them with speech utterances. An adult uses monosyllabic phrases to answer a question. In the process of interaction, he feels rather tense and constrained. The main object of attention in the first minute of diagnosis are toys. But the baby’s activity is limited only to a cursory glance at them. In the process of interacting with an adult, he usually does not seek to give answers to questions asked. And he also does not ask for help. Such a baby gets fed up quite quickly, interacting with the object of attention for no more than 10 minutes.
When studying the level of communication of children, it is also necessary to pay attention to the formation of their cultural skills used in communication. There are certain normative indicators of such skills. So, at 5-6 years old children should speak calmly and respectfully. Preschoolers are caring for adults, for their rest and work, willingly completing all the tasks assigned to them. Do not violate the rules of conduct in kindergarten, even in the absence of a teacher. Those same peers who show restraint are friendly in pointing out the need to be quiet. In public places they do not speak loudly and do not try to attract too much attention. At the age of 6-7 years, the norm of a culture of communication is to further consolidate behavior skills in a public place and communicate with people around.