Unit_024_Promote_Child_and_Young_Person_Development

Unit 024 Promote child and young person development 1.1 Explain the factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development i)Confidentiality - Before carrying out observations on children it is normal to gain permission from parents or those responsible for the child. Most parents are happy for there children to be observed, however they wouldn’t want other parents or people not involved with the child reading the reports. In my setting we store our observations carefully and make sure that when we are discussing a child, we do so only with colleagues and other professionals who have a right to know. ii)Children’s wishes and feelings -Children have rights and there are times where it is not appropriate to observe/assess children; for example if a child was unhappy or uninterested we would ask the child what they would like to do. When writing observation about children it is important to be respectful. iii)Ethnic, linguistic and cultural background – It is important that we can assess children’s development reliably. Sometimes the behaviours, skills and interests that children show are dependent on their ethnic, cultural or linguistic background. For example, a child who does not take part in the story of the three little pigs may not feel comfortable because the child associates pigs with being unclean; but an observer may interpret this as the child not being interested in drama. Bearing in mind children’s linguistic background is particularly important as the child may not show a certain skill because the words used to describe what they need to do are unfamiliar. iv)Disability or specific requirements – Some children and young people may have disabilities or particular needs which have to be taken into consideration when observations/assessments are carried k out. In schools it is usually expected, for example, that children with dyslexia need additional time in order to sit tests, while in nursery, a child may need an adult to remember to give just one instruction at a time. Not understanding the nature of the child’s disability or specific requirements can lead a practitioner to underestimate children’s abilities. v)Reliability of information – There is no point in assessing development unless we can do so fairly accurately. Statements made about children and young people that are in accurate can actually harm children’s development, especially if they lead to adults underestimating a child’s potential. This means we have to consider the reliability of information that we gather and also limitations of any observation methods that are used. vi)Avoiding bias – It is difficult but important at all stages of observing and assessing children and young people to be completely objective. Two people recording the same activity may produce different observations – for example, one person may decide that a smile is important and record I, while another person may decide otherwise. It can be especially difficult for practitioners who have a strong relationship with a child or young person to be objective, but it is still important if a child’s development is to be properly assessed. This is why in my some settings, different colleagues also observe children as they may notice other elements about the child. 1.3 explain the selection of the assessment methods used i)Assessment frameworks - Assessment, based on observation of children's learning and development, is an integral part of the EYFS. All early years providers must complete an EYFS profile for each child during the academic year they reach the age of five (for most children this is the reception year in primary school).The profile describes the child's level of attainment at the end of the EYFS and identifies their learning needs for the next stage of school, helping year 1 teachers plan an effective and appropriate curriculum for the child ii)Observations – One of the key ways in which we collect information bout children and young people is by observing them as they play. This information can tell us about their development and interests, and also their interactions with friends and adult and their levels of concentration. iii)Standard measurements – we measure and track the children in many ways, height charts, weighing scales even by personal appearance. Children undergo tests in primary school such as SATS to keep track of development also GCSE's are taken to get the young person ready for collage or to start their career. iv)Information from parent, carers, children and young people, other professionals and colleagues - Parents and colleagues see children in different situations and so may have a different view of a child’s development. Information from parents can be gained through questionnaires, face-to-face structured interviews or informal chats. Some practitioner also encourage parents to observe their children at home using a recording method such as videoing. Methods of observation The observer will get more out of observing a child if they plan in advance when they will make the observation and what approach they will take. It is important they do not disrupt a child’s activities and routines if they want to get an accurate picture of what the child is doing in the normal course of their day. This means that the observer will need to plan their observations to fit into times when circumstances mean they are free to focus on the child they wish to observe. Busy times should be avoided and any distractions removed from the child if possible. In addition to generally watching children and making mental notes of any changes or developments there are a number of specific observation techniques that can be used. 3.1 Explain the features of an environment or service that promotes the development of children and young people I)Stimulating attractive – Young children learn from using there senses. This means that the environment for them needs to be interesting and visually attractive. The word 'stimulating' also refers to the types of activities and play opportunities that are provided. ii)Well planned and organise – Working with children requires great organisational abilities. Babies need to be fed when they are hungry, toddlers get restless and older children need opportunities to explore. Every child will have there own needs, interests and personalty. To accommodate this, early years settings have to plan effectively and everyone within the setting needs to be organised. Iii)Personalised and inclusive – The EYFS requires early years settings to personalise the activities and play opportunities for children in ways that are inclusive. This means thinking not only about what is available for children, but also how things can be made accessible for children. iv)Encouraging and practising participation – Early years settings need to be welcoming places were everyone feels that they are valued and that they belong. While every early years setting will have its 'core' group of users, it is important that, within the core group, parents, children and people new to the setting feel they are not being excluded. Encouraging participation is also about shaping children’s attitudes. Setting which encourage participation look for ways of helping children to lean about valuing others. v)High quality policies in place and followed – The need for policies and procedures follows on from the need of settings to follow legislative requirements. Policies must also be reviewed, updated and evaluated to check for effectiveness. vi)Regulatory requirements met – All settings must meet the requirement of legislation. This will include compliance with the statuary framework of the EYFS, health and safety legislation and also other legislation involving the safeguarding of children and the protection of children’s rights. vii)Varied – All early years settings should think about what they are doing for children so as to vary the provision and maintain children’s interests. settings can become 'sluggish' if they do not think about how to vary what they are doing. viii)Meeting individual and group needs – As part of the requirement to personalise children’s learning and developing opportunities, EYFS settings need to show how to meet individual and group needs. ix)Providing appropriate risk and challenge – Over the past few years, there has been a change towards our understanding of how best to keep children safe. A few years ago, it was almost desirable to eliminate risk from children’s lives. Now it is recognised that this is not helpful and that in order to keep safe, children actually need to experience situations in which they are learning to evaluate risk for themselves. This means the outdoors children may be encouraged to climb trees, with supervision, or to jump of a low involving x)Involving parents and carers appropriately – Working with parents is a key part of early years setting. It is recognised that parents play a pivotal role in children’s development and so careful thought is given to the ways in which we interact with parents and make settings welcoming. 4.1 Explain how institutions, agencies and services can affect children and young people's development These services are provided by public agencies and private organizations for children who are found to be eligible for these services after a developmental evaluation, For example, Speech and language can help children overcome most of their problems. By helping children gain the ability to use language they can help children gain confidence and self- esteem I have seen this in my setting with children who have had communication and language needs. These children have gained confidence and their language is now at a level that they can interact with other children and not show frustration with much dedicated, partnership with the speech therapist. This is because they can now express themselves. These children felt isolated and didn't want to participate in group activities or play with any other children, they had little confidence and self -esteem. Some of the children didn't speak at all, others had medical problems which were identified and treated 1 child was tongue tied so couldn't say or pronouns their sounds and words. This was effecting their social, emotional and cognitive development. Having language and communication skills allows children to be able to think, to control their behaviour, and express themselves, to process new information. Language also is the key to literacy, without a good skill level children will find it hard also to read and write as they find it difficult to understand the letter sounds and shapes. The earlier institutions, agencies and services can positively intervene the better it is for the child's chances to change and be able to lead a normal happy life. If they are not met that child might also suffer bullying from other children, difficulties accessing the curriculum and therefore not achieving their full potential at their setting or school, they can become bored/disaffected. 5.2 Evaluate different approaches to supporting positive behaviour I)Least restrictive principle – One approach to supporting children’s positive behaviour is to consider the ethos in the setting. Few settings can have many petty rules that restrict and confine children, most well established settings aim to give children responsibility and freedom. This is important as children who are in very authoritarian settings tend not to develop a sense of responsibility for there actions. ii)Reinforcing positive behaviour – Reinforcing positive behaviour is about sending signals and rewards to children and young people so that they become inclined to repeat behaviours that are appropriate, for example, a child who says 'thank you' and is praised for doing so will be more likely to show this behaviour again. Rewards are re fared to as positive reinforcements Types of behaviour that are not rewarded or that are punished in some way are less likely to be repeated. Positive reinforcements are anything that acts as a reward. Common ones used in my setting are praise, stickers, extra attention and small rewards. iii)Modelling/positive behaviour -Children learn some of their behaviour from others, especially those around them. Anyone working with children will need to be a good role model, which includes being polite, showing consideration for others and waiting with patience. iv)Looking for reasons for inappropriate behaviour and adapting responses- It is important to consider whether there are any background difficulties that mite be at the heart of a child’s behaviour. Understanding the needs of children, and thinking about what might be influencing the child's behaviour, is at the heart of helping to promote positive behaviour, some factors, such as feeling unwell, might be short lived, but others such as the formation of a new family unit might be longer term. It is also important to think about whether any changes of behaviour might be linked to the child being subject of abuse. Once we have identified reasons why children may be showing inappropriate behaviour, it is important to think about our responses. It may mean that we will have to adapt our own responses so as not to inflame a situation, for example a child who is hungry and tired will not be able to reason properly, we might instead simply focus on dealing with the underlying cause of behaviour. Cause Possibly effects of behaviour Hungry Irritable, unreasonable, temper tantrums, poor concentration Feeling poorly Withdrawn, irritable, poor concentration Overheated, hot Irritable, quarrelsome, poor concentration Moving home Clingy, unreasonable, poor concentration Change to family unit, e.g. separation of parents, arrival of step parent Clingy, irritable, jealous, temper tantrums, aggression, withdrawn, attention seeking Long term medical condition Poor concentration, irritable, clingy, tired condition, withdrawn, anxious, attention seeking Birth of sibling Clingy, attention seeking, aggressive, demanding Parents struggling with boundary setting Clingy, attention seeking, aggressive, demanding Moving setting Clingy, withdrawn, attention seeking Learning difficulties/special needs Low concentration, temper tantrums, anger outburst, aggressive v)Individual behaviour planning- Where an individual child is showing inappropriate behaviours, it is usual that a plan or system to manage the child’s behaviour is drawn up. This should be done with parents and, where appropriate the child or young person. vi)Phased stages- The starting point should be to consider what exactly needs to be achieved. If there are several issues that need tackling it is often better to prioritise them, rather than attempting to tackle them all at once. This means that the plan at have phased stages. It is essential that expectations are in line with the child’s ability to meet them and that ways of reducing the effect of the underlying issues are examined. Many children who show unwelcome behaviour, for example, do not use language to help them express themselves or to reflect on their actions. For these children, the behaviour management programme must also link to language activities so that the underlying difficulty with language can be addressed. vii)Planning interventions to reduce inappropriate behaviour- provide plenty of sensory activities keep to strict routines and structures avoid situations in which the child is kept waiting make sure that activities are open minded so that the child can leave them if their concentration wanes provide frequent feedback to child, including incentives such as stickers use visual cues and props rather than 'telling' the child viii)Deescalate and diversion-Young children are exploratory. Impulsive and are easily lead by the context in which they find themselves. Very little of their unwanted behaviour is premeditated. This means that sometimes we can simply find ways of diverting them and thus not escalating unwanted behaviour. The strategy is important especially with young children as it keeps the atmosphere in the setting positive rather than negotiable ix)Containment- This is about preventing children from getting themselves further into trouble or in the case of some young people from committing further offences. In some cases, children and young people know in some way that they are out of control and look towards the adult to help them stop what they are doing. For a young child, containment may mean staying close by and not putting the child back into a situation that they were not coping with. x)Following management plans-It is important that everyone in the setting is working together to follow agreed plans with children as well as following the settings behaviour policy. This is because children need consistency and find it hard to cope when different approaches are being taken with them. xi)Boundary setting negotiation- For young children, learning about behaviour is also about understanding boundaries and what is expected of them. They need to know that boundary setting is not arbitrary and prone to random change. It is good practice to involve children in setting boundaries as soon as they are old enough. With younger children, you may simply explain what the new boundaries and consequences are for their behaviour. They should also know that when they show positive behaviour they will gain attention, praise and perhaps small tokens or rewards if appropriate xii)Supporting children and young people's reflection on and management of own behaviour- As well as looking at children’s reactions and behaviour, it is also important to consider our own. Firstly, we must make sure that we are calm in situations we especially when children are overwrought. Being calm helps to avoid escalation and also helps the child to feel safe. In addition, we have to consider our expectations of children. We also have to consider whether we might actually be contributing to the child’s behaviour or positively reinforcing it in the way in which we are dealing with it, for example, a child who is attention seeking and showing unwanted behaviour may actually be showing more of this behaviour because we are reacting and giving attention. xiii)Anti-bullying strategies-It is important in the early years to intervene quickly when children are trying to exclude others or dominate them. This can help children to learn what is appropriate behaviour. With older children and young people, it is usual that more explicit anti bullying measures are put into place. Circle time, discussions about playing nicely and using training materials from organisations that specialise in supporting children and help to prevent bullying. It is also important that settings working with children and young people have a robust anti-bullying policy and that bullying as an issue is taken seriously by all staff. viv)Time out (following up to date guidance)- The idea of time out is not to punish children, but simply to allow them to calm down and step back from the problem. Time out should not be used with very young children as they can simply feel rejected and will not have the skills to reflect and calm down. but older children particularly benefit from time out, especially if a sympathetic adult can talk about why they need to calm down. Children should not be made to feel that they are being rejected, but rather that you are helping them to avoid conflict or temptation. xv)Use of physical intervention (following up to date guidance)- The message is very clear to those who care for children. Physical punishment is not an option; it is an offence. There are very few occasions when it is acceptable to use physical restraint on children. the main reasons would be if: children are in danger of harming themselves children are in danger of harming others if restraint is needed, it must be kept to the minimum and must not be used as a way of disciplining or controlling children. You should also protect yourself from allegations of abusing children by keeping up to date with guidance, recording the incident and, if possible, ensuring that another adult is present. Physical restraint such as reins and harnesses should be used only to keep young children safe (for example, when walking near busy roads), and in no circumstances should children be punished by being harnessed. 6.1 Explain how to support children and young people experiencing different types of transitions children and young people are most likely to make a successful transition if they understand what is going to happen. The timing and depth of this explanation is crucial. For young children, who do not have a strong sense of time, it is important not to overwhelm them to far in advance with to much information and detail and so we may choose to feed information little by little. Where children have developing language, or difficulty in processing language, we can repair children by using photographs and pictures. Throughout any transition it is important to take our cues from children. Some children may appear not to be interested while other children may want to change the subject. How much information to give, and how much explanation is required, should therefore be governed by the cues given by children. Children and young people may sometimes show delayed reactions to what has been proposed or said. It is important to expect this and to realise that a child who is quiet at the time may have questions or react to what has been said later on. Children need to trust us. This means that if they ask a question, it is best to be truthful. In some situations, children will ask one question and then later on another. This allows them to come to terms with what is happening in their own time. Adults generally want to see children happy and it can be easy to fall into the trap of avoiding listening to and acknowledging children’s feelings. Listening to children means taking on board what they are feeling even if this is resentment, disappointment or anger. It is not helpful for the child to be told things such as 'don’t say that' or 'you don’t mean that'. Learning to listen to children and acknowledging their feelings means we can help children because they feel that they are taken seriously and can be helped to confront these feelings. new year starts involve the uncertainty of not knowing a new teacher, a new room, resources and way of working. During errand runs for example concerns may involve worry at disturbing others in the room, this maybe heightened if children are older, teacher is unknown, fear that knocking will direct unwanted attention to themselves may prevent a child wanting to go/perform this type of task or be unwilling to enter the room - they may become quiet, withdraw and refuse to participate when asked for volunteers. Positive relationships can support children across the school by adults making themselves known to children. Personalities, attitude and approach will reassure the children on the type of support they could expect. A permanent, new class environment offers the opportunity to experience different layouts, places where resources are kept and resource items themselves. Positive relationships can reassure children that access is the same as they're already used to. A tour of the new room and its facilities will help familiarise everyone with what's available and enable children to settle in and establish routines. Children may need reassurance when going through a transition. They may find it helpful to know that what they are feeling is normal or that other children have gone through similar experiences and have coped. Through listening to children, and allowing them to express their fear and anxieties, we can also help to reassure them Supporting children through transition involves • organise visits that help children be familiarise with places they'll be attending. Prepare pupils by talking about any imminent changes well in advance. Help them to balance the loss of the old with anticipation of the new Help pupils to give words to the feelings and emotions they are experiencing at times of transition. It is essential that the atmosphere in your school is one in which feelings are not only spoken about, but taken seriously too Think of ways of helping to bridge any gaps implicit in transitions; rather than sudden endings and abrupt beginnings, is it possible to provide some overlap between the old and the new' Pay attention to everyday beginnings and endings. Regular routines are incredibly important At times of major transition, provide an opportunity to identify shared memories and reflect on successes and challenges. Celebrate your work together Recognise the importance of objects that children and young people can take away with them to their new situation, for example, books, autographs, photographs, special work and so on Provide consistent responses to critical moments and events in the lives of children and young people, such as when they are bullied, bereaved or experiencing parental divorce or separation Be attuned to changes in behaviour. For children who have suffered any type of loss, transitions are likely to make them more vulnerable. An anxious state of mind can lead to defensive behaviours: aggression, acting out, withdrawal, lack of social interaction, lack of academic progress, lack of interest and depression. Identify and acknowledge the loss, then address the behaviour Make sure that your school has a transition policy in place that encompasses all aspects of transition detailing good practice for each of the transition hot spots as well as the systems and procedures in place for meeting the needs of children and young people experiencing transitions. This document will need to detail systems and interventions available to support children and young people as they cope with the unplanned changes that they meet during their school career, for example loss and bereavement, parental divorce or separation, family illness et Involve and support parents and carers in any transitions work that the school undertakes. Encourage optimism and work with the excitement and opportunities in the lives of children and young people, as well as the fears and anxieties Focus on the development of life skills including emotional resilience and empathy and the ability to ask for help and support when necessary Develop curriculum and project work that focuses on transitions Identify individuals who may need particular support through transitions. Make sure that staff know how to identify the support mechanisms and agencies that are available for the child and their family For some parents the capacity to reflect and process transitions is impeded by their own experiences and therefore support is needed if they are going to be effective partners in supporting children. Consider focusing on transitions when parents are in school, for example for consultation evenings Help pupils to make a difference to others. Involve children and young people in providing support to their peers as part of everyday friendships and relationships Encourage the understanding that experience of adversity and challenge is great personal development; that without challenge in our lives, we may never learn how resourceful and resilient we really are.