Transcript Slide 1

Communicating with children and
young people
Jo Fox BA, BSW
Consultant Social Worker
Learning objectives
• To understand the child & young person’s
ability to contribute to communication
through out the age groups
• To develop strategies to communicate with
children through out the age groups
• To identify a range of practice tools that
support communication with children and
young people.
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What are we trying to achieve when
we communicate with children?
© Child Centred Practice May 2010
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What we need to understand
about children
How does this manifest
• Attachment
• Regulation
• Self Efficacy
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October 2009
Resilience
Sense of self
Other mindedness
Ability to make choices
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Attunement
Consistent
response
Affect
identification
Competency
Caregiver affect
management
Regulation
Attachment
Core building blocks of ARC
Modulation
Affect
expression
Routines and
rituals
October 2009
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Executive
functions
Self
development
and identity
Child development in communication
• Understand the child’s developmental milestones,
including their abilities and the range of
communication at their command
• Think about how their personality and learning style
may affect their communication style
• Think about the impact of the experience of abuse
on a child
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Developmental changes in children’s understanding
(Jones, David)
• Children’s general knowledge about the world is limited by experience.
• The ability to appreciate the nature of other people’s attitudes, thoughts
and feelings, and to understand that these may differ from one’s own,
comes in later childhood.
• Older children and adolescents have their expectations shaped by prior
experience. They may therefore have fixed expectations about how people
in authority might react to them (e.g. black teenagers’ expectations of the
police).
• Younger children have not necessarily considered the consequences of
describing adverse experiences to others. Older children may well have
done so, or have attitudes already shaped by their own or others’
experiences.
Developmental changes in children’s understanding
Taken from Communicating with Vulnerable Children: A guide for practitioners by
David Jones
• Children’s general knowledge about the world is limited by experience.
• The ability to appreciate the nature of other people’s attitudes, thoughts
and feelings, and to understand that these may differ from one’s own,
comes in later childhood.
• Older children and adolescents have their expectations shaped by prior
experience. They may therefore have fixed expectations about how people
in authority might react to them (e.g. black teenagers’ expectations of the
police).
• Younger children have not necessarily considered the consequences of
describing adverse experiences to others. Older children may well have
done so, or have attitudes already shaped by their own or others’
experiences.
Try to avoid
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Close questioning
Leading questions
Suggestive questions
Complicated questions
Intimidation through personal or
environmental factors
Kid talk
Good at
Poor at
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• Attributing other mindness
accurately
• Understanding the nuances
intellectually
• Times, dates, space
Feelings
Personalising
Imagining
Understanding body
language
October 2009
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Ways to think about communication
with infants
• Even though infants are non verbal they are
strong communicators.
• When attempting to understand the world of
the infant it is important to interact with the
child – holding them, speaking to them,
observing them being fed and bathed,
watching their body responses in a number of
different situations.
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Ways to think about communicating
with toddlers
Positive strategies
Watch for
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• Exploring behaviour
• Proximity seeking
• Awareness of themselves
Play
Pretend
Make faces
Watch body language
Look for explorative
behaviour
• Where do they feel safe?
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Ways to communicate with primary
school kids 4 – 8 years
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Lots of drawing
Make things
Play games
Use pictures
Sand play
Dance
Tell stories
Dress up
• Avoid multiple or
complex questions
• Give them
opportunities to talk in
the third person
• Let them move around
if they need too
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Ways to communicate with older kids - 8 up.
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Make comic strips together
Write plays
Use technology
Art/story book journals
Chart success
Go slowly
Music and words to
favourite songs
• Write things down
• Avoid talking down to them
• Give them space to consider
their answers
• Do not over correct them
• Ask feeling questions
• Answer their questions
honestly
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Ways to communicate with
adolescents
• Pick a safe environment
• Be clear about what will happen
to the information
• Check if there are any no go areas
• Expect to be ‘played’
• Use Art and conversation
together
• Use music and conversation
together
• Use film and conversation
together
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Let them write
Share your notes
Challenge them
Use feeling words
Map progress
Give them written information
Make plans together
Meet them half way whenever
you can
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How do we represent children in
assessments?
• Research, inspections and inquiries indicate
that children’s voices are absent or minimised
during assessment
• Focus on parents rather than the child
• Use of language in reports
Communicating with Children ©
National Children's Bureau 2006
Ways in which children’s
voices are silenced
• By not reporting what was said
• Children are minor characters in the narrative
• More weight is given to adult views when there
are differences of opinion or conflicting
accounts
• Presupposing what they might say
• Descriptions of children being limited only to
how they respond or relate to their parents
• Presenting their voices as untrustworthy
Communicating with Children ©
National Children's Bureau 2006
Checklist
(From Putting Analysis into Assessment by Dalzell and Sawyer 2007)
• How well do I know the child?
• Which adults know the child best and what do
they think?
• How has the child defined the problems in their
family life and the effect on them?
• Under what circumstances did the child express
their views or feelings? What has occurred and
what did he or she want to happen?
Communicating with Children ©
National Children's Bureau 2006
Checklist (cont)
(From Putting Analysis into Assessment by Dalzell and Sawyer)
• What has been observed regarding the child’s
way of relating and responding to adults?
(Consider attachment)
• What do I know about research in relation to the
experiences the child has had?
• What communication methods have I used?
• How confident am I that I have been able to
establish the child’s views, wishes and feelings?
Communicating with Children ©
National Children's Bureau 2006
Impact of adverse life experiences on
ability to relate
• Slow to trust adults
• Difficult to puts names to feelings
• Poor historians – can’t remember
facts
• Omit facts they think could be
dangerous/risky
• Want to please
• Say what they think you want to
hear
• Poor literacy and expressive skills
• Attachment disorder can have a
significant impact on successful
relationship building and
communication
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Time Time Time
• More than anything children and young
people need time.
• Time to feel safe
• Time to get to know you
• Time to get to trust you
• Time to get to know themselves
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A belief in the future
• Children and young people need to know that
telling their story can make a difference
• It must lead to improved outcomes
• Future pull – offering children and young
people hope and a belief in tomorrow
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Make a difference
• Use the information that children give you to
understand their world, their strengths, their worries
and their dreams.
• Take that understanding and with the child make a
plan to change their world into the one they need
and want
• Then take the journey with the child – it is not for the
faint hearted or the careless – and see them to safety
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If you cannot do these things for the child
then….
“Don’t Ask”
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26 September 2009
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What Children Tell Us
A sample of research studies
Taken from NCB training pack
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Studies to find out what children say
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Children Speak – Butler and Williamson, 1994
Your Shout! – Judith Timms and June Thoburn, NSPCC, 2003
Remember My Messages – Catherine Shaw, Who Cares Trust, 1998
Start with the Child, Stay with the Child – Voice for the Child in Care, 2004
Ask Us – Department of Health and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a
project to find out the views of disabled children, 2002
• Local surveys
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Butler and Williamson (1994) – Who do children
talk to about their problems?
• Many young people had no trust in other people and the majority would
talk first to someone within the family network
• Over a quarter said they would talk to a friend
• A significant number had no trust in adult professionals
‘They don’t really listen. And then they don’t believe you’
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Butler and Williamson – Young people’s view of
social workers
• Lack of understanding
‘They don’t know nothing about what it’s really like for you’
• Impose their own views
‘They twist the story, then sort it out their way’
• Doubts about confidentiality
‘They spread things around: the whole world knows’
• Trivialise or overreact
‘Just because I put on a friendly face they don’t realise I want them to be
serious with me’
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Butler and Williamson – What do children want
from professionals?
• Good listener – ‘not like a robot’
• Available – ‘not at lunch, off sick, on training’
• Non-judgemental and non-directive – ‘advice should be ‘maybe’ not ‘you
must’ – give you choices’
• Humour – ‘someone you can have a laugh with’
• Straight talking – ‘not always what you want to hear’
• Trust and confidentiality – ‘consult before you spread things on’
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Timms and Thoburn (2003) – What do children
think of the court process?
• 66% said they had someone helpful to talk to through the process
• 42% said they felt listened to in court
• 55% did not get the chance to speak to the judge, and 21% would have
liked to
• When asked who was helpful, social workers received the most responses
(30%)
‘I would like social workers to be a bit more alert and to hear what foster
carers have to say and when they put down a time to come and see you
they must try to make the effort and come’
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Shaw (1998) – What do children say about being
in care?
• 49% said coming into care was confusing and scary, and 31% said it would
have been easier if they had had more information
• 47% said they had a lot of say in decisions about seeing their social
workers
• Although 30% described themselves as lonely, 70% said they felt happy
most of the time
• Having access to ‘someone special’ to talk to was strongly associated with
a generally positive state of mind
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Relationships with professionals
Young people said they would like to see
professionals who are:
– reliable
– keep promises
– provide practical help
– take time to listen, and to respond
– see their lives in the round, not just
the problems
‘I would have liked them to sit down
with me and have a conversation for
more than 15 minutes. Instead of
telling me what they were going to
do with my life, find out a bit more
about me’
Children want social work support
that is:
• flexible;
• responsive;
• individualised/personalised;
• respectful of children’s views and
wishes; and
• participative.
Taken from Children’s experience and contact with social
workers – report by CWDC 2010
Taken from Voice for the Child in Care (2004)
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Voice for the Child in Care – Reviews
Children and young people said they feel they are not involved in the
conversation at reviews, it goes on around them, and is about them, but it
doesn’t engage them
‘I was sitting in a room with about 15 people, all talking about me like they
knew me. I’d never met any of them!’
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Ask Us (2002) – Views of disabled children
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We want what other children want
We want to do what other children do
We want to go where other children go
We want to be respected
We want to feel the same ‘buzz’ that other children feel
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‘I feel social workers come and go a bit quick. I
don’t care anymore. My latest social worker,
I’ve already been told he’s only temporary. If
you know someone isn’t going to be around,
you don’t bother talking to them’
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Websites that can help with communication
• Free Web Tools for Elementary Teachers Classroom 2.0
• Lifeline Publications: Big Blue Book of Sex
• NCB | Communicating With Children
• Welcome to Youngminds — YoungMinds
• Resilience in Children: Professor Brigid
Daniel - Life Matters - 18 April 2006
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Websites that can help with communication
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www.pikikidsstore.com/ps
Cafcass - Putting children first in family courts
Youthhood.org: NCSET's Web Site for Youth
TheSite.org
St Luke's Innovative Resources | seriously
optimistic books and resources | Strength
Cards for Kids, Kids' Skills and more.!
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Training packs, courses and resources www.ncb.org.uk ©
• Aldgate, J (ed) (2006) The Developing World of the Child. London: Jessica
Kingsley. (Note, training pack to accompany book is available from NSPCC).
• Butler, I and Williamson, H (1994) Children Speak: Children, trauma and
social work. London. NSPCC and Longman.
• Cleaver, H and Walker, S (2004) ‘From policy to practice: The
implementation of a new framework for social work assessments of
children and families’ Child & Family Social Work, 9, 81.
• Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce (2005).
Available from
www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/commoncore
• Commission for Social Care Inspection [CSCI] (2005) Making Every Child
Matter. Available from http://www.csci.org.uk/
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• Dalzell, R and Chamberlain, C (2006) Communicating with Children: A twoway process. Resource pack. London: National Children’s Bureau. Available
from http://www.ncb.org.uk/support/resources
• Dalzell, R and Sawyer, E (2007) Putting Analysis into Assessment. London:
National Children’s Bureau.
• Department for Education and Skills (2004) The Common Assessment
Framework. London: DfES.*
• Department of Health and others (2000) Framework for the Assessment of
Children in Need and their Families. London: The Stationery Office.*
• Holland, S (2004) Child and Family Assessment in Social Work. London:
Sage Publications.
• How it is (2002) London: NSPCC/Triangle*
• Hutton, A and Partridge, K (2006) Say it Your Own Way. Barnardo’s and
DfES.*
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• Jones, D (2003) Communicating with Vulnerable Children: A guide for
practitioners. London: Gaskell.
• Lancaster, P (2003) Listening to Young Children. Maidenhead: Open
University Press.*
• Lord Laming (2003) The Victoria Climbié Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by
Lord Laming. Norwich: HMSO.
• Melia, J (2005) Wavelength: A handbook of communication strategies for
working with young people. Brighton: The Trust for the Study of
Adolescence. *
• Myers (2001) In Safe Hands. A video resource and training pack to support
work with young refugee children. Leicester: NSPCC National Training
Centre.*
• NSPCC and University of Sheffield (2000) The Child’s World: Assessing
children in need. Training and development pack. London: NSPCC.
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• Quality Protects and Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2002) Ask
US.
• Shaw, C (1998) Remember My Messages. London: Who Cares?
Trust.
• Timms, J and Thoburn, J (2003) Your Shout! London: NSPCC.
• Two-Way Street, video and handbook (2001) Triangle.*
• Voice for the Child in Care (2004) Start with the Child, Stay with
the Child. London: VCC.
• Young Minds: obtain information sheets from their website
www.youngminds.org.uk *
• Zeigler, R (1992) Home-made Books to Help Kids Cope. USA:
Magination Press.*
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