1 Communication Barriers and Solutions Kiersten Waller Rasmussen College Joy Moss 19 July 2020 EEC3005CBE Communication and Connections for Early Childhood Communication Barriers and Solutions Barrier Negative Impacts Responsive Solutions 2 Language Time Why this Should be Addressed This should be addressed so that families feel comfortable in your program and overcoming this language barrier will allow educators to better form effective partnerships with dual language families Moss This should be addressed so that all families have opportunity to partake in events and experience going on throughout the center If this is not addressed you will not be able to successfully accommodate these families or form connections with them Families with a language barrier could easily feel isolated from the ECE program This could negatively impact the program by making families feel like they are not as important or are not being treated as equally as other families Families with limited time to communicate other than drop off and pick up times often want to be more involved but simply cannot This could negatively impact the program by making families feel like they need to neglect their own responsibilities obligations or occupations in order to be a part of events and experiences within the center It is important to put the home language of the family first this means using resources in multiple languages to aid your communication Moss with these families and possibly getting a translator to make these conversations run smoother You should provide opportunities for families to contribute to the center and program on a schedule that works best for them Moss This will ensure family involvement is successful in the program Involving families around typical center hours may accommodate these families however another solution could be to allow these families to provide materials for events if they cannot attend that way they still feel included in the program experiences Solutions to this barrier can be a simple as improvising Resources Families who do not have the resources that This should be addressed so that educators can provide and improvise 3 Communication Styles other ways to communicate with these families in these situations If a family feels left out from the culture of the program it may cause them to feel left out and could cause them to seek other care options for their child This should be addressed so within our program we take effective communication methods with all types of families seriously We need to be cautious when communicating with all families so that we can allow ourselves to be aware of the communication styles unique to each person and each family including ourselves as educators other families do can create communication difficulties This can negatively impact the program by making these families feel like they are not good enough for having resources such as money or technology and can ultimately cause a barrier between families and staff of the ECE program Communication styles could negatively impact our program when we expect families to communicate the same way we do For example if a quiet and reserved family is constantly being communicated in a loud and outgoing manner making them uncomfortable it could potentially cause them to avoid interactions conversations and communication in the program altogether which would be a failure of the program to effectively build connections with these families communication methods for example if families don t have a lot of access to internet smart phones or computers and this is the primary way communication is being relayed providing these families with paper copies of these efforts could be a simple solution to the problem Responsive solutions to this communication barrier is really just adjusting our approach to support the communication needs of others in our care This means we need to maintain our importance of communicating with families in our role as educators and be aware and conscience of non verbal cues that make families uncomfortable in conversations For example if a parent is not making eye contact with you due to your approach in communicating this is a cue that you should be communicating differently with this family 4 Personal Feelings This should be addressed because as educators and part of an ECE program it is essential that we maintain professionalism despite personal feelings we may have It is of the utmost importance that we put our obligation as educators before personal feelings we pursue with families and parents of children in our care Self reflection and professionalism are the key to overcoming this communication barrier We need to really reflect on past experiences individual feelings and perspectives that shape who we are and how we interact with others Once we overcome personal feelings we can than shape the communication methods we used in order to effectively communicate with parents and families Personal feelings can negatively impact the ECE program when you are not able to separate your personal feelings of families from professional conversations For example if you are communicating with a family who is constantly picking up their children late and frustrating you you may relay these frustrations to the family and could cause tensions and negativity being relayed in communicating 5 References Moss J 2020 Barriers And Solutions To Effective Communication online Learning rasmussen edu Available at https learning rasmussen edu webapps blackboard content listContent jsp course id 69317 1 content id 6255167 1 Accessed 19 July 2020