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Talking with the patient

How to talk with children and parents

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)EMS (NREMT)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Children understand more than adults expect when spoken to at their level. Parents need to feel heard and part of the plan.

Step by step

  1. Greet the child first

    Get down to eye level and use the child's name. [1]

  2. Match the child's age

    Use play and simple words with toddlers, short explanations and choices with school-age children and respect for privacy with teens. [1]

  3. Listen to the parents

    Ask about their concerns and what they have noticed at home. [1]

  4. Be honest about procedures

    Say if something will hurt and for how long, and offer comfort. [1]

  5. Offer real choices

    Ask which arm to use, not whether they want the shot. [1]

  6. See teens alone

    Spend part of the visit alone with adolescents and explain confidentiality and its limits. [1]

  7. Check understanding

    Use teach-back with the parents and, when old enough, the child. [2]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

69 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  2. AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back)

Facts and steps follow AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs); AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.