Communication is when we 'get the message acros.' There are
two main components of communication, the non-verbal and the
verbal. The non-verbal is the body posture, the tone of
voice, the facial expression and other subtle aspects of the
person that communicate something to us without speech (or
from within the speech, but are not the words of the speech
themselves). This form of communication often occurs without
our even being aware that we are picking up these messages.
We might know that someone is angry, nervous, frightened etc.
without the person saying anything that tells it to us.
The verbal component of communication is what we mean when we
talk about 'speaking.' This is divided into two parts;
normally, we would call these parts the 'speech' and the
'language.'
The speech involves the pronunciation of the words, letters
or sound groups (like 'th' and 'sh') within the words. The
language is the choice of words, and their suitability for
the purpose, the sentence structure, the understanding of
grammar, rhyme, idiom and humor, etc.
In order to develop good speech, the child has to hear well
and to be able to distinguish between similar sounds, such as
the difference between the sound 's' and 'z' make or 'd' and
'n.' This is called auditory discrimination. Children also
have to have a good auditory memory to remember the vast
number of sounds that they hear when we talk to them.
The number of sounds (phonemes) that there are in English
(for example) is much more than the number of letters in the
English alphabet. Many letters have different sounds
depending on the letters around it, or where they fall in the
word. So for example, the letter 'c' has one sound in 'cat,'
another in 'ceiling' and yet another in 'chair.' The 'ch'
sound is its own phoneme, not two separate sounds, although
there are two different letters.
The child then has to be able to mimic these sounds. This
involves physical co-ordination of the various parts of the
mouth and chest (breathing out at the correct time) that are
responsible for producing sound. The babble of children is
their practicing the sounds they hear over and over again.
Usually one does not need to teach a child how to say a
sound; it is enough for them to hear it often and eventually
they will mimic it. There are subtle differences in the way
we make sounds that we are not even aware of, but that
children learn (usually) as a matter of course. For example,
the letter 'l' is formed in the mouth in a different way in
'feel' than in 'leaf.'
At the same time the child starts to produce sounds, he also
has to learn the rudiments of grammar. He needs to learn
tenses, the difference between 'me' and 'you,' the right way
to string a sentence together and idiom (e.g. that 'wait a
minute' means 'soon').
Being able to speak well (pronounce words properly) and have
a good understanding of the way that language is built is an
important prerequisite for all learning, in that a child with
good language skills will find it easier to understand what
is said to him (e.g. when questions are put to them, or
instructions given), and find it easier to express what they
want to say (e.g. answering questions, or asking for more
information).
When a child learns to read (the language they understand, in
this case English), then he uses this knowledge of language
to work out what the text means. This means that good reading
depends on having a good language base.
When the child reads something, a number of errors can be
made. For example, he can transpose letters, which means
changing their position in the word so that 'misplace' is
read 'mipslace'. He can skip letters, reading 'misplace' as
'mislace,' or 'place' as 'pace.' He might not notice the
commas or periods, or put them in the wrong place, meaning
that he would read a sentence with an incorrect emphasis,
turning it into nonsense. For example the sentence:
"The man set off on his journey. Half an hour after, he was
killed." would be read as:
"The man set off on his journey half an hour after he was
killed."
Another mistake would be confusing letters like 'u' with 'n'
or 'p' with 'd.' These mistakes usually will create nonsense
words, but occasionally the word will still be a valid word.
So 'pip' can become 'dip.' Even if the letter combination
created by such a mistake does not make sense, the child may
persist in trying to sound it out, if he does not realize
that this combination of letters does not exist. So 'bunny'
cannot be 'buuny' or 'bnnny'. And although 'planet' can
become 'plauet' and still be a word by the rules of English,
it is nonsense.
A child with good language skills will realize the rubbish
his mistake has produced. He will automatically correct these
mistakes or reread the sentence to work out what it is
supposed to mean. Also a child with a good understanding of
phonemes will find it a lot easier to work out how a word
should sound, by building up the blocks of sounds that make
up the word.
The reverse is also true, that reading increases vocabulary
and knowledge of the way language works. Written language is
very different from spoken language and the child needs to be
able to use his skill in one area to become better in the
other. There are children who are excellent readers but who
find it hard to express themselves verbally, and prefer to
write their thoughts. They find it easier to understand an
instruction if they read it, but not when it is spoken.
Another child will always find it preferable to hear
instruction, and answer verbally.
Some children who read very poorly in Hebrew can read very
well in English. There are many reasons why that might be the
case, but from what has been said here, it is clear that for
some children the answer is that the child can more easily
scan the English and correct his mistakes so that the text
make sense. However in Hebrew, he cannot do this.
Transpositions, deletions and letter confusions in Hebrew
often produces real words, or at least words that can be said
(unlike bnnny). But as in any case, if the child does not
understand what he reads he will not notice his mistake and
cannot correct himself.
Unless there is a specific problem, children will learn
language easily and painlessly just by mimicking what they
hear. The most significant factor in good language
development, besides good hearing, is a rich verbal
environment. That is to say, hearing speech, and more
specifically being spoken to. Babies absorb sound from the
moment they are born, and they are programmed to focus on
human speech. Being spoken to means that the speaker is
looking at the child, that there is not too much extraneous
noise, and that the child is given positive feedback when he
attempts communication back.
Looking at the child, talking to him and listening to him
(also looking at him and making eye contact) also gives the
child the message that he is important, and that your
communication with him matters. It is almost true to say that
you cannot speak too much with a child. The emphasis being
speaking with, not only speaking to. The caveat is that there
has to be enough time to listen as well.
When the communication is active and occurs in both
directions, the child learns a lot about the non- verbal
component of communication, about taking turns and about the
appropriate use of language. By talking to our children from
the moment they are born and having the patience to listen
and talk to our (sometimes very talkative) older children,
mothers are preparing them for success in life by helping
them acquire good language and communication skills. It's not
for nothing that women were given nine out of the ten
portions of the speech sent to the world!
