Addressing Communication Barriers in a Diverse Children's Client Group

This report details an analysis of communication barriers encountered while working with a diverse group of 100 children. The report identifies several significant obstacles to effective communication, including stereotypes, prejudice, language barriers, and psychological factors. The author emphasizes the impact of stereotypes and prejudice on interactions, highlighting instances of discrimination and misunderstanding. Language barriers are addressed through the potential use of translation tools, while psychological instability and attention deficits are recognized as internal barriers. The report also outlines strategies to improve communication skills, such as attentive and empathetic listening, and emphasizes the importance of providing adequate resources, including toys, safety gear, and entertainment facilities, to enhance the children's experience. The report also discusses the need for activities and facilities tailored to children with physical disabilities, ensuring inclusivity and equal participation.

Introduction
 I worked with children client group
100 children in the group
The children were from different races and diversity
I worked towards proper management of the group for better outcomes

Barriers of Communication
• Stereotype
• Stereotype - oversimplified or fixed idea or belief that is widely held,
concerning a particular group or individual. The interaction process
would have been perfect, harmonious and progressive had it not
been for the barrier of stereotype
• Children from the same orientations as similar nationalities were
closer to each other.
• There was an increased level of fragmentation and discrimination
because of stereotype

Prejudice
• . Prejudice refers to the positive or negative feelings that are deeply
held on a group or individual. Prejudice reduced the efficiency of
interaction in the children client group.
Example
• Hispanic national refused to listen to a group leader who was an
American. The group leader gave out directions and tasks to the
Hispanic. The Hispanic felt offended because he thought he was
treated unfairly by the group leader.
• The reason for that is because of prejudice which informed the
rudeness of the Hispanic

Language barrier
• The cosmopolitan client group creates a problem of language
understanding.
• When communication is broken, interaction is impaired.
• Alternative- Translation Kit that uses the technology of translation.
• Downside- it never played the role of bringing the children together
to the extent it was expected

Psychological barrier
• Wrong encoding of information in psychological instability state.
• Psychological instability also leads to attention deficit because of
mind preoccupation.
• Greatest barrier to interaction was the small problems embodied in
their minds.
• Small issues overtook the minds of children

Communication skills
• I kicked off training sessions for the children's’ communication skills
capabilities.
• Training children laid a good foundation for their communication
prowess.

Attentive Listening
• Attentive listening trait boost the confidence of children in interaction.
• Attentive listening was important because it is respectful and
courteous.
• Courtesy is one of the greatest need for children because they need to
understand and appreciate others the way they are.
• Ability to read and understand the non-verbal cues of the speaker is an
important aspect of attentive listening
• Therefore, I trained the children to have a good understanding of non-
verbal cues of communication.

Emphatic Listening
• Teaching the children on the need to be emphatic during the process of
communication is also important. Since children understand the values
taught to them better at a tender age, teaching empathy will deeply get
into their inner self.
• Empathy basically refers to the ability to put oneself on the foot of the
receiver or the sender. Empathy helps in the development of children
who are cautious about others. Training the children on empathy was
useful for purposes of communication but was more important for as a
value they will need in life. That is because communication has a
purpose and that purpose is to achieve meaning which will result in
beneficial outcomes

Resources needed
• The interaction activities with the children was a thrilling experience but with
challenges too. For one, the children needed to have enough tools and toys
for playing and activity exercises.
• Most children looked bored because the time for playing was quite limited as
a result of inadequate resources. For example, the bouncing castles were
quite a few and the children needed to take turns on them. Because of a lack
of patience, most of them would get into fights while others look quite bored
and frustrated.
• For purposes of helping the children understand and appreciate the limitation
of some playing tools, I had to be created on maintaining their attention.
Another kind of resource that is very important for the kids is safety gears.

Safety Gears
• To achieve the best from the client group, I needed to do a lot of
games with the children because they understood better when they
played more.
• The challenge- inadequate safety gears. Safety is one element that
cannot be compromised especially when it comes to activities like
skating and riding bikes. Activities relating to art and that needed
cutting and use of sharp objects also required safety gloves. There was
also a need for the presence of adequate entertainment facilities.
Children loved watching kids’ movies, listening to songs and dancing.
However, when that was repeated frequently, most of them got bored.

Entertainment Tools
• There is a need for more entertainment facilities and ideas other than
playing and watching.
• It will be best for the kids if there was a good provision of games that
boosted their intelligence and cognitive abilities.
• An example of such an activity is the game of chess. Competitions
could be arranged and children given the chance to build their minds
on such activities as playing the game of chess

Tools For People with Physical
Disabilities
• Adequate provision of facilities that were friendly and relevant to the
children living with disabilities.
• The children living with disabilities like those who are crippled need
special activities that will ensure that they take part in the program
without having a discriminatory feeling.
• Hence the need for creativity on how I could have those who were
physically handicapped feel accommodated.
• Planning of the program for kids must accommodate the children
living with a disability.