— For Youth

Teaching Effective Communication

Suggestions for parents when learning and teaching Effective Communication skills

Help your child become interested in Effective Communication skills by modeling it first. Use this skill 10 different times over a period of time to actively listen to them before asking them to try it themselves.

Remain calm. If you find yourself rushing into conclusions or comments, remind yourself to slow down and focus on hearing them. Reflect back without adding any of your own commentary until they are completely done talking.

If your child starts repeating something and you feel like the point has been made, notice that it likely means they don’t feel heard yet. Keep reflecting until they stop, adding emphasis like “I hear that you really didn’t like…” or “It sounds like you feel strongly that…”

Expect that your child will struggle to remember the steps of Effective Communication. That is why it is essential to print out the steps and place them in a visible place.

Practice the steps with the printout. As your child gets more comfortable, remove the printout until they can follow the steps by memory.

Be aware of your child’s limits. If you need to break up the learning of the steps to the skill, that is alright. Help them learn and master what they can and move to another step as needed. You know what is best for your child.