Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Environmental Factors - Coggle Diagram
Environmental Factors
-
Bilingualism/EAL
Some children learn more than one language at a time. This may be because they are from a different country and are learning their home language as well as English
Some children find learning two languages at once easy and it doesn't delay their communication at all because they are able to associate the language with a certain person or place. For example learning and using English at school but using their original language when they are at home.
If the languages they are learning are not taught separately the children will find it difficult to separate the two and relate them to a situation. This will cause them to get easily confused and take them longer to learn and communicate in multiple languages
Children who are EAL (have English as an Additional Language) may struggle to communicate more as English isn't their initial language and if they are staring to learn it later on then they may be delayed in their communication as it takes longer to learn it and be able to communicate clearly.
Parental engagement
Babies and young children who's parents spend time talking and interacting with them are more likely to learn how to communicate quicker. This is because children like to imitate their parents behaviour and so they will for example smile when a parent smiles at them as they are copying what they are doing. So if a parent is very engaged with their child and talks to them the child will pick up what they say and will learn to say it too. It is important to spend the time talking to the baby/child and not over look communication because of a busy schedule.
It is important for children's communication that there is a strong positive attachment with the child and the adult. If the adult doesn't want to engage or communicate with the child then they may be more delayed in their speech as they are not learning from their parent/carer so are not practicing/using their communication skills at home. On the other hand if there is a positive attachment then the child will be communicating well with their parent at home so will be practiving andf learning from home how to communicate.
A positive home environment and positive role models for the children from the parents will mean that the children learn manners for example and they will imitate the parents behaviour and speech which will help their communication. they will be able to interact and communicate with their parents which will help their socialisation skills. A parent could also teach the child inappropriate words and speech if it is used around the child as they will imitate what their parents say.
If the adult is very sociable it will positively impact the child's communication as they will want to talk to others and will feel more comfortable making friends and socialising. However if the parents struggle with communication themselves then this could impact the child's communication too, so if the adult doesn't like interacting with others they may not take the child to the public park as there will be others there, so the child wont be able to communicate, socialise and make friends because the parents don't like doing this themselves.
-
Stimulation
There are lots of ways for providing stimulation for a childs communication and language for example: toys, activities or resources. It is easier for adults to know how to interact with children/babies when there is an activity happening and when there is something to look at or do. This is because it allows adults to think of questions to ask the child and it allows for conversations to start.
Children are more likely to start conversations when they are playing or they have seen something that interests them. This is good as it means that the child is initiating speech and coming up with conversations. They are motivated to talk and their brain is being stimulated by an object that they feel they want to interact with and interact and share with others - this may be with parents, teachers or with other children which improves their social skills as they can play with, do an activity and talk about an object with others - improving their communication skills.