Unit 8

Unit 8: Promote Communication in Health, Social care or Children and Young People’s settings
Learning Outcome 1: Understand why effective communication is important in the work setting
Assessment Criteria 1 – Written Question
Identify the different reasons why people communicate
Before thinking about the different reasons why we communicate, we need to think about what communication is.   It can be defined as transferring information. This can be through exchange of thoughts, messages, feeling etc. The way we transfer information is by speech, signals or writing, to express yourself so that it is clearly understood.
Methods of communication (body language, speaking, writing or visual aids)
We use body language to communicate effectively. It is important to know about body language, as it is an essential part of communication, individuals may get stressed when the surroundings are noisy and chaotic, this may be obvious in their body language, as they cry, withdraw and show signs of stress. The distance between you and other people is important, so being too close might invade personal space and seem threatening, Eye contact is important for communication, too much eye contact and it becomes staring, to little eye contact and it becomes avoidance. Touch is important. Some people are very tactile, and like being touched and touching. Others regard that as being invasive. Physical gestures differ from culture to culture; it can offend different cultures in different ways. Facial expression is important, especially with young children and babies, who need high levels of facial expression, for example a big smile that to an adult would seem exaggerated might be appropriate to a baby,
Speaking - the words we use need to be clear and straightforward. People whose first language is not English, And young children may not understand common expressions for example it’s raining cats and dogs. The tone of voice is also important, and the speed of speaking may need to be...