early years

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With thanks to Debra Laxton, University of Chichester.

a.          Play to Promote the Building and Maintaining of Relationships

Research (Abbott & Burkitt, 2015) indicates that the brain goes on developing throughout life, that ‘intelligence’ is not fixed but also that the early years are when the brain develops fastest.

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We all have different sensory needs which help us to relax, interact with our surroundings or focus successfully. Some people need music to help them concentrate, others concentrate best in total silence. Doodling helps some of us focus while others like to chew on something (their nails, ends of pencils or gum). What helps you to relax? Do you exercise or lay in a bath? What comforts you? A hug, solitude, music? We tend not to pay much attention to our sensory needs because we are usually able to meet those needs without even thinking about it.

(See https://www.croydon.gov.uk/education/special-educational-needs/sen-education/croydon-senco-portal/croydon-senco-toolkit-0/identifying-pupils-with-send))

The guidance includes:

Resource 1: Flowchart to map process for identifying pupils who require SEN support in schools.

There is a growing body of evidence which supports the arts and art therapy as a complementary method of improving and maintaining both mental and physical health and wellbeing (BAAT, 2018).  Participating in arts programs can be a way of enabling resilience for those facing difficult and traumatic situations, particularly when it is difficult for people to put their experience into words (Dieterich-Hartwell and Koch, 2017).

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Earlier definitions of school readiness focused on a set of cognitive skills that a child should possess to be ready to start grade 1. This traditional construct of school readiness was criticized for its narrow focus (Ramey & Ramey, 1999). While misconceptions in plenty of places continue to distort ideas about school readiness, understanding of what “school readiness” means has increased greatly in recent years.

With thanks to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (https://www.nctsn.org)

This advice has been developed for children in the United States but is very similar to the advice from Syrian Refugees in the UK (Section 3.0). It is provided here as part of the support materials for people working with traumatised children.

Introduction taken from NCTSN, 2010, pp. 2-3