Communication and Language Development - Assignment Example

 Describe the context of your assignment- 100 words max about the setting(s), number of children you worked with, colleagues, parents or other professionals involved, and links to your academic studies, where relevant. As a teaching assistant in St. James Hatchman Primary School, I was able to do an exercise with the toddlers, ages from three years old to five years old. I worked with a maximum of four children within the given fifteen-minute period for the table printing activity. The room where the exercise was done was called Cherry room where the said age bracket was placed. The exercise lasted for one hour and forty minutes, including the cleaning up time. I also had to communicate the exercise with the teacher in-charge of the children. Standards demonstrated in this assignment The following standards are used: 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 4.1, 5.1 to 2.3, and 6.2 List the books, articles, national and local policies and guidance, documents and websites you have used to support your assignment (use Harvard referencing). Please note you do not need a lengthy bibliography - include only the main references that you have drawn on for this assignment. a. Summarise and reflect on the development of children’s communication and language development from birth to five years. Demonstrate your underpinning knowledge and the sources you have referred to in developing that knowledge. Stds From birth to the first year, children must be surrounded with sounds and language that can be from parents, rhymes, or songs. Aside from this, it is essential that the children know the meaning of the sounds and words in order for the children to be conscious of sounds (Morrow, 2007). With this, I personally communicated with the children and tried to create the common sounds in their environment. I was able to use animal sounds in order to refer to the common animals found in their environment. In addition, children develop their language skills during the second year. Children name an object such as a toy in relation to the sound acquainted to it. In this stage, the language of children helps them to think and understand experiences and strengthen their emotion and behavior (Buckley, 2003; Morrow, 2007). During this stage, I was able to communicate with the children in terms of naming common things in their environment. Aside from this communication process also involved visual stimulus or representation of things, by handing or pointing over the word, such as door, food, water. Furthermore, three-year-old children already depict an understanding of familiar and common actions, questions, and other information. This is also known as the three-word stage wherein the children already acknowledge specific things in their environment (Buckley, 2003; Thies and Travers, 2001). In this manner, I communicate with the children in terms of phrases in order to enhance their comprehension. It is best to enunciate the words properly during these stages because most of the children are already learning to communicate verbally. Lastly, when the children reach five years of age, they already understand and speak sentences that the children personally constructed. In this stage, the communication and learning process of the children are slowly becoming flawless (Thies and Travers, 2001). During this stage, I have communicated with the children in a direct verbal manner. It is necessary to communicate directly and use uncomplicated words during this stage in order for the children to understand the sentence or phrase. 1.3 1.4 2.2 2.4 2.5 b. Describe a set of communication and language experiences you have planned and implemented with one or more age groups - babies, toddlers, young children. Explain your rationale for providing these particular experiences. Stds I have planned an activity with the children, which is table printing. The aim of this experience by the children is for them to use their creativity. In this process, the children will be able to explore textures and colors, which will enhance not only their creativity, but also allow them to use their sense of feel and touch. This is an important part of the experience in order for the toddlers to enhance their technique in using the different materials, which will be handed to them. Also, in this experience, only four children will be given the chance to do the activity and the others will have to wait for their turn. This is a vital exercise in terms of assessing the visual learning skill of the child. Also, the experience will also be useful in the process of assessing the ability of the child to communicate what he or she can feel, such as the texture, and can see, such as the colors. This assessment will be essential in the communication and language development of the children in order for them to communicate what they feel and see rather than pointing and bringing the material or the color to the person they are communicating with. 4.1 and 2.5 c. Reflect on your observations and assessment of the children’s progress, including how you have engaged with parents/carers in on-going assessment and making appropriate provision. Stds As to the information that I have acquired, I have learned that from birth to one year, it can be observed that children communicate by creating sounds, body movements, and eye contact. During the second year, they already communicate and react to their environment by using a single word. Furthermore, they learn and develop their communication and language skills from three to five years. In a normal development, children at the age of three to five already acquire the core sound system. Also, within this bracket, they are already capable of constructing sentences and also engage in conversations (Gargiulo and Kilgo, 2005; Beech, Harding and Jones, 1993; Vinson, 2001). In relation to the communication and language experience I had with the children, I have observed that they are they are easily stimulated with colorful visuals and the textures presented and created in the experience. Aside from this, due to the freedom of the child to do whatever he or she wanted with the paint, the child then had the freedom to express himself with the colors presented for his or her use. In addition, I have also observed that the child also had the ability to listen and carefully follow instructions in order for them to take part of the activity. I have observed that when the child saw me putting on my apron, the child also did the same way because, as what I have observed in toddlers, they usually imitate the behaviour of the adult around them. In addition, the children also followed my instructions when I say that they had to wash their hands after the activity is done. One of the difficulties in the experience is that children do not have the patience to wait for their turn. Furthermore, the experience with the parents has contributed to the attachment of the children to their parents. It has been observed that the more and the longer the parents communicated with their children; the children also established attachment to their parents. This could be due to the ability of toddlers to imitate their parents. During this essential communication between the child and the parent, it can also be observed that the children also tend to reenact the activities and expressions they see from their parents. With this observation, I can infer that, during this stage, the parents must take into account the presence of their children when dealing with adult matters, especially when it includes shouting or raising voice. It must be noted that the child still cannot distinguish between what is right and what is wrong; therefore, caution on action and the usage of words must be employed. 2.3 and 2.4 d. Explain how you gave feedback to help the children evaluate their achievements. Explain also how you identified and facilitated possible next steps in the children’s communication and language learning. Stds During the process, communication and language experience, I have observed that most of the toddlers were able to express their creativity with the use of the materials we have used for the table printing experience. The table printing activity was more than just an experience for the children to express themselves. Some of the children were expressive in terms of their color recognition and in terms of giving an idea for the works of the other children. They also engaged themselves when I asked them to identify the colors and feel the texture of their work. With the use of these observations on hand, I suggest that the next plan for the communication and language learning of the children must involve activities that allow them to see and feel new things and the environment. In this manner, the children will have more time to learn and discuss with their peers their experience with the new learning environment. This could include a day in the zoo or a new creative experience such as art classes. As to the engagement of parents, it is essential that the parents create a more learning-conducive and creative environment for the children for them to express themselves. This is important in order for the parents to see their children learn and express their creativity, not only in their learning environment, but also at home. As I have observed, the children can clearly express themselves but must also be guided by speech and language therapists in order to assess the articulation and enunciation of the children. I have observed that the children are very much creative and are open in the exercise that I have conducted. With this, the children must be given time at home and at school to use their creativity in some activities, such as the table painting exercise. Also, in order to extend their learning and developmental progress, I also suggest that every child must be allowed to do these creative exercises with other children. In this way, the children will be given the time to interact with others and share their learning process. 6.2 5.2 5.3 e. Evaluate how far you were able to overcome any difficulties or barriers to the children’s learning and support their progression in communication and language development. Stds One of the challenges that I have experienced during the exercise was teaching the children to wait for their turns while others were doing the exercise. I had to properly communicate with them that they have to wait for the others to finish first. I was able to overcome this challenge by allowing the waiting children to other activities. Another challenge was for the children to follow the instructions and for them to share what they did with the other kids and to me. Some children were first shy with their works, but later on communicating their thoughts on the colors and images they have come up with. Others were also too eager to share their artworks, but later on followed instructions and waited for their turn. 4.4 4.2 Read More