Communication is really important – yes, really it is - Guest slot, Lisa Morgan, Professional Director

Generally speaking, I like soap box opportunities, so writing a blog seemed a gift. However, it has been remarkably difficult but I couldn’t work out why. Just north of Market Harborough, it dawned. Usually, when I step up and start rambling, there are other people there. Admittedly, many drift off along the way, but there are always other people there. Writing this on my own, as if I’m talking to people who aren’t here, is, quite frankly, weird. However, it does lead into what I wanted to say in the first place…

Through work, I’m well-versed and completely committed to communication being important for many reasons –expressing needs, learning, social and emotional development and so on. But I’m having a bit of a renaissance about how truly vital communication is to our relationships, our belonging and just pure enjoyment. Everywhere I go, I see people linking with others through talking about stuff - sharing, with others, through communicating. For some people, though, communication causes challenges which makes that sharing, that belonging, that enjoyment way more difficult.

We have a favourite family joke. From confused beginnings it now contains the key elements of a joke - makes sense, has an ending and is funny (ish). Their joy as my children tell it over again, reminds me, in a tiny way, of how we must not undervalue the importance of communication as something enjoyable, which makes us in touch and helps us belong. It’s so vital that everyone can have the skills they need and the opportunities they want to do just that. It doesn’t mean that all the other functions and roles of language become less important, just that we need to continue expressing from a giant pile of soap boxes that for everyone, for many reasons, communication is really, really important –it really is.


P.S.
‘Why did the banana go to the doctor?’
‘I don’t know, why did the banana go to the Doctor?’
‘Because it wasn’t peeling very well!’