This book offers a fresh and insightful introduction to children's communication development that emphasizes how families help children learn to communicate optimally. Writing for communication students, parents, teachers, and all who care for children, the authors argue that optimal development of children's communication competencies depends on family participation in everyday learning situations that challenge children's skills and build communication confidence.

The book mirrors the organization and coverage of existing family communication textbooks, making it a valuable addition to coursework about families, communication, and development. Chapter topics include:

 

• an overview of communication development: universal stages and cultural variations;
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• communication development at home: nonverbal, verbal and mediated skills;
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• relational and group dynamics in the home, including variations by ethnicity and family configuration;
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• family roles and family rules for providing stability and structuring behavior;
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• family resiliency in coping with challenges;
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• strategies for fostering positive communication development in the home.

 

Families Communicating with Children emphasizes the positive effects of family influence, and draws attention to cross-cultural variations in parenting as well as universal steps in development. These features clarify the process of communication development and offer an optimistic view of the future for the many shapes families assume today.

Thomas J. Socha is University Professor of Communication at Old Dominion University.

Julie Yingling is Professor Emerita of Communication at Humboldt State University.