M3- Assess your communication and interpersonal skills in relation to each interaction.
As part of my M3 I will write a report to review and assess my communication and interpersonal skills during each interaction within my P5 and P6. I will discuss factors such as tone of voice and non-verbal communication. I will also highlight my strengths such as my ability to make a service user feel at ease and my weaknesses such as miscommunication due to misunderstandings.
During my time at Magherafelt Day Centre I was interacting one to one with the service users and staff as well as group interaction with the service users.
When I was down at the main floor I would interact a lot with a man who had severe special needs. I found interacting with this man especially, very challenging as his speech was very difficult to understand and therefore was a barrier within our communication creating misunderstandings. I felt very hesitant at the beginning to interact with this man but felt as the weeks progressed I learnt how to communicate effectively. When communicating with him I used mostly verbal communication and ensured my tone of voice was raised a little in volume. As well as that I would speak slowly and create pauses so that he had a moment to comprehend what I was saying and feel free to ask questions.’ It is essential when communicating with someone with a learning disability to give them time to take in what is being said, and to communicate more slowly than you may normally in order to allow them to process what it is that you are communicating.’- http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/help-information/learning-disability-a-z/c/communication accessed 14/4/15. I felt that my verbal communication was strength during this particular interaction as it made him feel comfortable and as ease as I was not excluding him or treating him differently than others due to his