A child’s verbal and non-verbal skills must be developed at an early age in order to lay the foundation for learning and parents must continue to remain involved, even after the start of formal education. Often families fail to advance a child’s communication abilities within the household, choosing to rely on the education …show more content…
A person’s first inclination is to think of the verbal aspects of communication and fail to realize that listening, specifically active listening, is an important part of communication. Hearing what a person, whether an adult or child, is saying is not enough; the listener must understand the message. This is where active listening comes into the communication landscape. Active listening lets the speaker know that their audience is fully receiving the message. A person can aid understanding by asking, “Is that what you meant when you said…” Fully understanding the message eliminates confusion, a key goal of active listening. Once the skills of communicating and active listening are in place the family as a whole can put them into practice; they just need to take advantage of