Dhara - Building Sustainable Communication

'Communication' is the process of exchanging ideas, feelings, or thoughts between two or more people. This process happens both verbally and non - verbally. Studies explain that 93% of communication we do is through non - verbal mode, only 7% of it constitutes of verbal communication. Non-verbal communication comprises of gestures, facial expressions, body language, position of body, tone and pitch of voice etc. It includes different senses i.e touch, vision, hearing, taste and smell. Infants to adults learn from their environment from the inputs they receive from these senses. Hence it's a natural way of learning Speech and Language skills and skills related to other developmental areas. An infant or toddler understands that clap is an action related to a happy emotion through observation of facial expressions, body language and tends to repeat it whenever he/she feels happy. Hence it is not only verbal communication but also non-verbal communication accounts for learn...

From Infancy through childhood and beyond, children learn Speech, Language and other skills from their parents. These skills are learnt during their interaction with their parents through out the day. During this interaction , infants learn several skills through observation, exploration and analyzing the stimulus that is received. Parents act as moderators in guiding the infants to master their developmental milestones. For example, while babies are learning to put their first steps, parents slowly fade the support and encourage the child to walk independently. Similarly, in Speech and Language intervention parents play a major role in helping the children with Communication Disorders master the skills that has been targeted. Children with 'Communication disorders' on average receive 3 hours of therapy or intervention program per week from the professional, rest of the time they will be in the company of their parents (excluding the school timings). Parents come in cont...