Introduced to a child

When we first are Introduced to a child, we have to assess them to understand which bevel of language we are going to use with them, we would not say to a 6 month old baby, ‘Hello, how are you, what have you been doing today, what would you like for dinner et. We must use lots of facial expressions and soften our tone of voice and use shorter sentences, we tend to speak slower as well so we say ‘Hellos’ with a big smile on our face when speaking to a baby. If we are showing a baby something when we are speaking to them we should point also to help them understand what we are saying to them.

Rhetorical questions are not real questions as the person asking the question as such, also answer it, so we might say to a baby would you like your nap now, Oh yes you would, you look very tired’ or you would like your bottle of milk now, wouldn’t you’. It allows us to speak and communicate with a baby or toddler who will not answer our questions but it is a way of us using speech, language and communication on a daily basis, helping to be part of the day and feel involved.

Using eye contact and smiling the response it usually positive and received back with a mile or babble. Closed questions should not be used all the time, only when a yes or no answer Is needed, we must ensure we still use all others areas through out the day, we can use a closed questions Like ‘have you finished your lunch’ ‘do you need help with your shoes’. Closed question should not be used on babies, but can be used on young even able to shake or nod their head.

Sometimes if a child is upset or does not know you (their first settling in), closed questions can be used to help if the child is feeling anxious and does not want to hold a conversation with you, obviously this is something you do not want happening every day and the child should start to speak and say words to you. Open questions prompt a child to give a longer answer and are needed to develop their speech and language skills.

So asking questions like ‘what shall we do today’ ‘what shall we have for lunch’. A child should not give a yes or no answer in open questions, but hopefully will speak up and answer the questions, sometimes you may et a ‘l don’t no’ answer, but that usually is due to others reasons. Babies will not be able to answer open questions and most of the time only children that feel comfortable with you, so the children that attend you setting for a while and are quite settled.