Recognize the other person's need to be heard. Accordingly, when engaging in your next conversation or reviewing a conversation in retrospect, consider the extent to which you: One article can't begin to cover such an important topic, but we can at least benefit from reminders about basic listening practices which I share in the form of a checklist. Effective communication begins with effective listening. You can help them find one at the National Center for Medical Home Implementation website.As a mediator and teacher of mediation and alternative dispute resolution practices, I can't do enough to remind others (and myself especially) of the importance of effective listening. If the family does not have a regular healthcare provider, then you may want to talk with your center director or employer about helping connect a family to a medical home. If you or someone in your center regularly screens children in your care with a formal, scientifically tested screening tool, encourage the family to share those screening results with their child’s doctor. Encourage families to ask their child’s doctor about developmental screening especially if a milestone checklist pinpoints a concern. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be screened using a formal, scientifically tested screening tool whenever there is a concern, along with routine screenings at 9, 18, and 24 or 30 months and autism screening at 18 and 24 months. Many families have a regular pediatrician or healthcare provider who can help the family sort out their concerns and think about next steps. For example, if a mother seems worried when talking about her child, you might say, “It sounds like you are pretty worried about this.”ĭeveloping and using these listening skills in your conversations with parents will help to enhance your relationships with parents and make difficult conversations more successful.Įncourage parents to share their concerns with their child’s doctor or healthcare provider. If you acknowledge those feelings in what you say, you will build a stronger connection with the parent. Watch and listen closely for clues to those feelings. As you listen, also consider how the parent feels about what he or she is saying.For example, if a mother of a child in your care says that her child is not speaking as clearly as her neighbor’s child of the same age, you might say, “I hear you saying that you do not hear Ginny speaking clearly.” After listening, repeat back in your own words the parent’s main point so he or she will know you heard and understood.During the conversation, listen closely try to make eye contact, nod when appropriate, and be silent when the parent is speaking.Using these skills will help build relationships and encourage better communication: How you carry on the conversation is very important to its success. Good listening skills help make a conversation more successful. *Parents refers to the primary caregivers of children in your care. The more you, as their trusted partner and provider, routinely talk with families about their children’s development, the more families will be engaged as well. In addition, there can be clues in those steps that could alert parents to a potential developmental concern. Just like these movement milestones that are so familiar to parents, their child’s social/emotional, communication/language, and cognitive developmental milestones also progress in a series of orderly steps. All the “small” steps in between represent important developmental milestones: rolling over, sitting up, crawling, cruising, walking, running, and others. Children grow up so quickly it is as if one day they are beginning to sit up and the next they are playing baseball. Discuss healthy development with parents* regularlyĬelebrating milestones is infectious! Families begin to see the importance of those accomplishments and will want to take notice as well.
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