Since this part of caregiver school is about holding a family meeting and creating an effective care plan, I would be remiss to not discuss some of the pitfalls of poor communication. Many families have the best intentions in communicating but never learned how to do so effectively. They think they are trying to start a conversation and soon realize they have started a confrontation. Effective communication is a skill that can be learned.

So as a family caregiver initiating these family discussions and treading into the murky waters of conflicting goals, expectations, challenging ought to and should's you will need to be armed with some strong communication skills to accomplish your task. Now this is a huge topic and the subject and many books so for our purposes I will keep my focus narrow and as it relates to family caregiving. So begin by identifying five (5) the roadblocks to effective communication that you will probably encounter from your loved one