Development of communication skills in preschool children: features of formation, diagnostics

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Each person lives in society and occupies a certain place in it. Therefore, he necessarily has some kind of relationship with the people around him. Through the process of communication, we begin to understand ourselves and others, as well as evaluate their actions and feelings. All this ultimately allows each of us to realize ourselves as individuals and take our own place in the society in which we live.

However, a characteristic feature of the modern era is the replacement of live communication, which is so necessary for a person, with electronic communications. Many kids, who have not yet reached the age of two, easily master parental smartphones and tablets. At the same time, some children have social and psychological problems in terms of communication. They don't know how to do it and, as it seems at first glance, they don't want to do it at all.

Insufficient development of communication skills in preschool children is a cause for serious concern for teachers and psychologists. After all, communication is a mandatory attribute, without which the development of the human personality becomes impossible. That is why this article will definitely come in handy for those parents who want their baby to successfully develop their communication skills. This will allow him to remove obstacles for him in communicating with peers and adults.

About communication

What does this concept imply? The very word "communication" came to us from the Latin language. In it, communicatio means "transmission, message", and communicare - "transfer, report, talk, make common."

From a scientific point of view, the term "communication" can be explained by giving it various definitions. So, in philosophy, communication is understood as communication. That is, the information exchange carried out between living organisms. This process is multifaceted and complex, implying the establishment of contacts between different people, as well as their development. This type of communication is also called intergroup or interpersonal. Its specific name will depend on the number of participants. Communication skills of people allow them to express their feelings, opinions, ideas. They are also necessary for a person to understand the meaning of what was done for him or said to him.

According to the opinions of specialists in the field of psychology, communication is the ability of an individual to communicate with others, regardless of their age, cultural andsocial education, development and level of life experience.

In addition, such skills are also referred to as effective communication skills. Such skills express the degree of ease of establishing contacts between individuals or their entire groups. Communication skills also illustrate a person's ability to keep up a conversation, defend their legal rights and agree on something. Syntonic communication (non-conflict, friendly and neutral) is also referred to as such skills.

Communication skills in children

Everyone is able to communicate to some extent from an early age. So, a crying baby, who is trying to get his mother's attention, begins to enter into communicative connections and socially interact with other people. Nevertheless, crying is clearly not enough for a small person to achieve success. It is very important that over time the baby begins to effectively build communication with other people.

What are the communication skills that children have? According to psychologists, the success of the formation and consolidation of communicative communication skills in children depends on several factors. Among them:

1. Desire to communicate. Implementation of communication links without motivation is impossible. Autism is proof of this. These patients do not have any intellectual problems. They just lack the motivation to open their inner world to others. Autistic people are psychologically developed. However, at the same time theyno social development.
2. The ability to listen to your interlocutor and hear him. To communicate, it is very important to show interest in others and understand what they want to communicate.
3. Emotional interaction. Effective communication becomes impossible without empathy and empathy.
4. Knowing the rules of communication and the ability to apply them in practice. There are some unwritten norms that may have some differences in different societies. The development of communication skills in preschool children is possible only if they master these norms. Otherwise, in the future they will certainly have difficulties in establishing social ties. For example, a child should be polite. Anyone who ignores this rule will become a bully in the eyes of others.

For the formation of communication skills in preschool children, psychologists recommend that parents limit their pastime in front of a computer monitor, TV screen or tablet. It has been established that those kids who practically do not part with gadgets do not know how to communicate. Interacting with such devices, the child perceives the information given to him passively. This is clearly not enough for the development of communication skills in preschool children. It has already been proven that kids who play computer games too often speak worse than their peers. In addition, it is difficult for them to understand the emotional reaction of others to certain events and actions.

Stages in developing communication skills

Communication skilleach person must develop from childhood. This allows the personality to develop. And thanks to other people, a person begins to know and evaluate himself.

The development of communication skills in preschool children is carried out through several successive stages. Let's take a closer look at them.

Situational-personal communication

Babies are ready for this form of communication at the age of about 2-3 months. It arises due to the child's need for the attention of adults. In infancy, such communication is leading.

This first form of communication skills manifests itself in the "animation complex". These are various emotionally positive reactions of a baby to an adult. They are accompanied by active movements, a smile, fixing the gaze on the person who has approached, listening to his voice, as well as vocalization. Such manifestations indicate the development of the first communication skills of young children. Contact with an adult is very necessary for a child, which is why the baby demands it.

Situational business communication

The next stage in the development of social and communication skills in children occurs at about six months of life crumbs. At this time, a situational-business form develops, allowing the baby to communicate with adults at a new level. It exists up to 3 years of a child's life.

Communicative communication skills of children at the indicated age are in the need for cooperation within the framework of the subject-toolactivity that prevails in them during this period of life. The main reason for the contact of a child with an adult is now a common thing for both. They are practical cooperation. That is why, of all the motives for communication, business comes to the fore.

A child, together with an adult, who is the organizer and assistant of activities for him, manipulates the objects at his disposal. They also perform complex actions with their application.

Adult at the same time shows the baby what he can do with various things and how to use them. At the same time, the qualities of objects are revealed to the child, which the baby would hardly have been able to discover on their own.

Non-verbal stage

The stages of the formation of children's communication skills described above pass without the use of speech. Of course, this form of contact is available to people of any age. However, according to scientists, children are characterized by the most vivid facial expressions due to the lack of a framework of norms and conventions. This skill becomes especially important when establishing contact with their peers. Younger preschoolers still cannot get to know a new friend and agree with him about something through speech. And here facial expressions come to the aid of the kids, which serves as a kind of improvised tool for them. So, being in the sandbox, the preschooler smiles at his new acquaintance, thereby inviting him to sculpt Easter cakes together. Confirming such a proposal is also quite simple. A new friend is given a mold or spatula.

Besides this, babies are alwaystend to show what they already know. They try to attract attention with the help of touches, and their hands are used to demonstrate the sandcastle.

Preschoolers, as a rule, also try to show their sympathy or antipathy non-verbally. If they love someone, then that person gets kisses and hugs. Those children and adults who do not enjoy the location of a preschooler see his frowning forehead. In addition, the child can simply turn away or hide behind the mother.

The emergence of speech

At the next stage in the development of communication skills in children, there is a transformation of objective activity. The child begins to master speech. We can talk about a new stage in the development of communication that occurs between a child and an adult when the baby begins to ask his first questions: “Why?”, “Where?”, “Why?”, “How?”. This form of communication is extra-situational-cognitive. It occurs in the younger, as well as in the middle preschool period. This is 3-5 years old. The formation of children's communication skills is due to their need for a respectful attitude from adults. Cognitive motives encourage the appearance of such communication. With its help, children expand the scope of the world that is available for their knowledge. Also, for kids, the relationship of events and cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena and objects are opened. Children are increasingly attracted to what is happening in the social sphere.

Communication and speech skills of children are increasingly developing with the replenishment of their vocabulary. The child still sendsnon-verbal cues. However, he already adds the simplest explanations to them, for example: “My car” or “Rash sand in a bucket.”

Four-year-old preschoolers can already easily pronounce declarative sentences. During communication with their peers, they have involvement in society. At the same time, they happily state: “We are running”, “We are skating”, etc.

Five-year-olds who start inviting peers to play actively use sentences with more complex structures. They might say things like, “Let's play shop. You will be the seller and I will be the buyer.”

Sometimes, when communicating with younger preschoolers, conflict situations arise. As a rule, it provokes their children's egocentrism. This happens, for example, when the baby does not agree to give up his toy. A conflict situation can also be created by children who see a beautiful doll or car from another child. They want to immediately receive the item of interest. In both cases, adults should be nearby, explaining to the preschooler how to ask their peers to share the toy. It is also important to teach young communicators polite phrases that are accepted in society to regulate communication.

The verbal communication skills of preschool children are especially well developed by the age of five. At this age, kids already quite fully master coherent speech, and also begin to realize how important words are for communication. At this stage, communication skills acquire a special meaning for a small person.importance.

Extra-situational personality form

For the communication skills of children of senior preschool age, the appearance of the highest form of communication in this age period is characteristic. It is called extra-situational-personal. It arises due to the need for empathy and mutual understanding.

The dominant motive of communication in this case becomes personal. This form of communication has a direct connection with the highest conditions in preschool age during the development of play activity. The child begins to pay more attention to the features that take place in interpersonal relationships, that is, those that exist at work with parents, in his family, etc.

Communication skills in children of senior preschool age are characterized by the fact that kids are already beginning to navigate well in a group of peers. In addition, they establish diverse relationships with those people who surround them. Among the features of children with communication skills that are at the proper level, one can single out their excellent mastery of the rules of communication, as well as the concept of their duties and rights. Such a child quickly joins the moral and moral values of society.

Interpersonal contacts in the children's team of younger preschoolers

In addition to communicating with teachers and parents, children need to communicate with their peers. At the same time, personal interaction in groups of an early age period also has dynamics.

Communication skills of preschool childrennot yet well developed. That is why in such groups it is often possible to observe that the kids carry out their activities side by side, but not together. This stage is called pre-cooperation. Communicating with peers, each of the kids at the same time carries out the process of subject-representative actions. They only drive their car, rock their doll to sleep, etc.

As children of primary preschool age develop communication skills, joint actions gradually arise between them. Nevertheless, at the first stage, this is only a mechanical merger and complicity, in which mutual agreement is expressed to a minimum degree.

As children develop social and communication skills, all their joint actions in the group begin to acquire elements of cooperation. This is manifested in the establishment of selective and emotional contacts with their peers. In this case, the unification of children occurs on the basis of common gaming interests. An important role in the proper organization of such communication belongs to adults.

The development of communication skills in children gives rise to their subjective attitude towards peers. They become partners in joint activities, without which it is simply not interesting to play.

During this period, the child is actively developing awareness of himself as a subject participating in joint activities. This process is most noticeable in role-playing games. It is in them that preschoolers are guided both by the plot and by their peers with their level of skills and abilities, witharea of interest.

As preschool children develop their communication skills, one can observe the desire to establish cooperation in order to come to a common goal. At the same time, the first gaming associations in their life are created, which in most cases are of a very unstable nature. Dyads are predominant in babies, and triads are much less common.

The main requirement that is made to a peer before accepting him into a joint game is his possession of the necessary skills. At the same time, each child determines his attitude towards his peers, based more on emotional than on rational motives. The actions of others are judged quite simply. Gave a toy - good.

Adults help children make value judgments, and, consequently, build value relationships. Younger preschoolers often turn to them to clarify the rules of interaction.

By the fifth year of life, the bonds that take place between children are even stronger, becoming more stable. They begin to show likes and dislikes.

Socio-communicative skills of children in early preschool age usually have an emotional-practical form. The main reason for communicating with each other is joint games, activities, as well as the performance of various household duties. Preschoolers strive to attract attention to themselves, as well as get their assessment. At the same time, selectivity in communication is also noticeable.

Interpersonal contacts in a group of older preschoolers

SWith age, there is a further development of communicative skills and abilities of children. For older preschoolers, role-playing games become the leading activity. Uniting for them, children show common requirements, joint planning and coordination of actions. A child at this age is already beginning to take into account the interests of his partners. There is a feeling of mutual support, camaraderie, as well as empathy for failures and successes. Children begin to realize how effective collaborative activities can be. At this age, as a rule, dyads predominate, which are very stable associations. But at the same time, there are also groups consisting of three people. Five-year-olds create "pure" unions by gender.

Well-developed communication skills of preschoolers allow them to show their skills in organizing games. In this case, the desire for justice, friendliness, kindness, as well as the breadth of horizons and the external attractiveness of the child are manifested.

When children's communication skills are impaired, kids are not accepted into games. This happens due to defects in their moral-volitional sphere, unattractiveness to peers and isolation.

Relationships of children of 5 years old, as a rule, are determined by the absence or presence in the child of those moral qualities that are predominant for the group. And here the role of teachers is very important. They should diagnose the communication skills of preschool children and organize proper communication between pupils. This will excludechild the possibility of a negative emotional state.

At the fifth year of life, role-playing games become truly collective. Moreover, they begin to be built on the basis of cooperation. A child at this age does everything to make his peers pay attention to him. And here, in communication between children, a phenomenon arises that is called the “invisible mirror”. In his peer, the child sees himself, and from the positive side. This situation changes somewhat later, by the sixth year of life. The kid is already beginning to see the peer himself, and most of all the shortcomings of the latter. A similar feature in the perception of kids in a group is combined with a zealous interest in all their actions and actions.

The development of communication skills of preschool children leads to the fact that at the age of 6-7 they begin to have an extra-situational-business type of communication in communication with their peers. At the same time, the child not only considers specific typical situations, but also generalizes the idea of the world around him.

Diagnosis of communication skills

To understand the level of interaction of a child with people, it is necessary to determine his activity, contact, speech development and knowledge of the world around him. For this purpose, the diagnosis of children's communication skills is used. It can be done using the following method.

The teacher will need to bring the child to the room where there is a table with toys and books laid out on it. An adult needs to ask the baby what hepreferred to do:

• play with toys;
• read a book;
• talk.

After that, the teacher should organize the activity that the baby preferred. Then the child needs to be offered one of the two remaining types of activities. In the event that an independent choice is not made, the teacher should offer the child to play first, and then read. And only after that it will be possible to talk. It is necessary that each of the described actions last for 15 minutes.

During the diagnosis, the teacher must fill out an individual protocol for the child (one sheet for each situation). If the kid constantly chooses a game for himself, not showing any interest in the book and personal communication, then the adult needs to gently, but at the same time persistently suggest that he change the type of activity.

The following indicators of the baby's behavior should be recorded on the protocol page:

• order of action selection;
• what the child paid special attention to at the very beginning of the diagnosis;
• activity level shown in relation to the selected object;
• comfort level during the experiment;
• analysis of verbal utterances of a preschooler;
• length of activity that has become desirable for the child.

The types of communication are distinguished according to the preference of a particular situation;

• when choosing a game - situational business typecommunications;
• when deciding to look at a book - extra-situational business communication;
• when choosing a conversation - communication of an extra-situational-personal plan.

When determining the leading form of communication, all indicators are evaluated in points. Attention is also paid to the content and themes of speech statements. After that, for each of the sheets of the protocol, the teacher needs to calculate the total amount of points. The form of communication that has gained the most of them is considered the leading one.

In each of the actions, the number of points as a whole is calculated on a four-digit scale.

Given all this, the teacher determines the level of formation of communication skills. It could be:

1. High. In this case, the child quite easily interacts not only with his peers, but also with adults. His speech statements have an extra-situational, social and personal character with an evaluative opinion. A child with a high level of communication skills is usually the initiator of a conversation. In the process of communication, he feels and behaves quite relaxed. The main object of his attention in the first minute of diagnosis is another person. At the same time, activity is manifested in relation to him in the form of speech statements in the form of questions of a cognitive nature. This preschooler prefers conversations on personal topics that last 15 minutes or more.
2. Average. At this level of development of interpersonal communication skills, a preschooler interacts with his peers and with adults. During the conversation, hefeels quite calm. The main objects of his attention can constantly change. That is, the child switches attention from a person to toys and books. The manifestation of activity takes place in the examination of the selected object and in touching it. The speech of a preschooler with an average level of development of communication abilities is filled with statements of an evaluative nature. He also likes to ask out-of-situation and situational questions. Such a baby prefers looking at toys and books, as well as interacting with them, which lasts approximately 10-15 minutes.
3. Low. Such a child interacts with great difficulty. With adults, this happens only on their initiative. Such a child has no contact with peers at all. He prefers single games, not accompanying them with verbal statements. Uses monosyllabic phrases to answer an adult's question. In the process of interaction, he feels rather tense and constrained. Toys are the main object of attention in the first minute of diagnosis. But the activity of the baby is limited only by a cursory glance at them. In the process of interaction with an adult, as a rule, he does not seek to give answers to the questions asked. And he doesn't ask for help either. Such a baby gets fed up with activities quite quickly, interacting with the object of attention for no more than 10 minutes.

When studying the level of communication of children, it is also necessary to pay attention to the formation of their cultural skills used in communication. There are certain normative indicators of such skills. So, at 5-6children should speak calmly and respectfully. Preschoolers show a caring attitude towards adults, their rest and work, willingly completing all the tasks assigned to them. Do not violate the rules of conduct in kindergarten, even in the absence of a teacher. The same peers who show intemperance are friendly pointed out the need to be quiet. In public places, they do not speak loudly and do not try to attract too much attention to themselves. At 6-7 years old, the norm of the culture of communication is to further consolidate the skills of behavior in a public place and communication with people around.