Under the SEN Code of Practice, children with 'emotional and behavioural difficulties' have 'as equal an entitlement to positive, inclusive provision as any other' (Drifte 2008: 3). And so, this series aims to help practitioners to provide for that entitlement and to find success amid the challenges of supporting children whose actions make daily life difficult for themselves and for other people.
ETHOS
It might have been simpler to say that the series is about 'managing extreme behaviour', but while the phrase is sometimes used informally, it has long been avoided in the early years. It offers little expectation that children can contribute to solutions in difficult circumstances and, according to Lynn McNair, head of Cowgate Under-5s Centre in Edinburgh, it is loaded with unfortunate meanings.
She says, 'The word "behaviour" often arrives attached to words such as "good" or "bad", and the word "management" is defined in the dictionary as "administration" or "supervision". We do not view ourselves as "supervisors" of children's organisation, but as equal partners in a democratic organisation.'
A more optimistic description of the subject matter might be 'enabling positive behaviour in challenging circumstances'. This certainly avoids the idea of 'management' in a controlling sense. But while the emphasis here is on the 'positive' (good) rather the 'extreme' (bad), a value judgement about behaviour still remains. And that's not all. There is something in the words 'enabling positive behaviour' which suggests that all children can achieve self-control and that success is, therefore, attainable in all circumstances. Anyone who has been at a desperate loss to know how they should respond to a child's actions knows that this is not always the case.
And that is what this series wants to get at:
- to look deeply at situations where practitioners might lose confidence and determination when working with a group of children - or, more often, with one child in particular;
- to acknowledge that, when the difficulties experienced by a child are repeatedly expressed through distressing actions, good standard practice and a positive behaviour strategy may not be enough to help the child and practitioners cope;
- to help caring adults share the burden, work it through and, with hope, find the small successes that will enable them to continue supporting the young child with an emerging developmental problem, the child whose home life is a battleground, the little girl who shares a bedroom with five siblings or the boy whose instability mimics that of his father.
These are young children who may bite, kick, swear, hide under tables, run out of the setting, take their clothes off, shout, scream, threaten, cry inconsolably, push, frighten others, throw food or laugh at you when you try to insist on boundaries - and who do so repeatedly, unpredictably and to the genuine distress of others in the setting.
Obviously, it's never easy. 'There's no magic bullet to working with children who find it very hard to stay in control,' says early years consultant Mary Dickins. 'You can list the ingredients for what might work - I've done it many times myself - but you still might not seem to be getting anywhere with an individual child.'
EXPECTATIONS
What about excluding a young child in these circumstances? Mary Dickins thinks that exclusion is 'symptomatic' of how society views childhood and that 'we really must be determined to do it only when all other strategies have been explored'.
She stresses that when a commitment to inclusion has not been properly understood and considered, a setting can find itself ill-equipped to support a child whose actions are upsetting. 'There are no guidelines for the extent of individual difficulty that any setting should be able to support,' she explains, 'but nor should there be, as they might create unrealistic expectations or limit what can be achieved.'
Child psychologist and early years consultant Jennie Lindon is also concerned about expectations. 'Young children are developmentally at a point where they quite quickly find it hard to cope,' she says. 'Many settings need to remember that young children are indeed able to self-regulate over time, and to take a less physical or kinder approach to their responses. But children can only do that effectively with our help.'
In such a context, where self-control can be difficult for any child and where there are no guidelines specifying a required level of support, it can be hard to determine whether and how practitioners can provide for a particular individual.
'Each setting's response will be different,' says Mary Dickins. 'Those which have a staff-wide commitment to inclusion are likely to be able to cope with more challenges than those where a management vision for inclusion is not properly shared with all staff or where inclusion is not properly understood.'
The resilience brought about by a shared vision is why ethos is the starting point for this series. The examples here describe how setting-wide approaches to young children and early learning also enable practitioners to act as confident professionals in challenging circumstances. They do not offer strap-on solutions, but show how the development of a setting's own strong, broad principles provides guidance for practice in this area.
CELEBRATING THE INDIVIDUAL
'If you think of a child as the square peg and a setting as the round hole, it will be no good to the child to try to hammer her into shape in order to fit,' says Maggie Stovold, head of Windham Nursery School in Richmond, London. 'It's up to the setting to take a file to that round hole and carefully to make it square, to fit the child.'
Windham's aim that 'every child fulfils his or her potential in every aspect of personal development' is in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage principle of the Unique Child. But that broad commitment is informed by the staff's experience in the Jigsaw pre-school unit for children with social-communication difficulties, which is housed at Windham. 'It means that we're used to a wide range of possible conduct from children, and to adapting so we can serve their needs,' says Ms Stovold.
Few settings will have such experience, but Ms Stovold says Windham's policy on relationships, which 'comes from an ethos rooted in work with children who have additional needs', is 'all about helping them to negotiate' - and that is familiar in the context of enriching children's learning, illustrating how a strong ethos connects all elements of provision. The Windham vision results in what Ms Stovold calls 'a differentiated emotional environment'.
She says, 'It's tempting, when a child appears to be ignoring rules, advice or routines, to regard him as wilful. But we are working with very young children, and it's up to us to work out why any one individual may be having difficulty understanding what is expected of him, and to find a way of helping him overcome that difficulty.'
This principle leads to practice via the setting's 'Additional and different provision', which identifies a range of opportunities that are additional to or different from the nursery's everyday provision (see box).
The more difficult a child finds it to be comfortable in his skin and to learn successfully, the more of these opportunities he is likely to access as staff assess what works best. It is this approach, says Ms Stovold, which enables Windham staff 'to look at how we can include children who have barriers to learning, and aim to remove them'.
AN ENABLING CULTURE
The concern expressed by Lynn McNair at Cowgate Under-5s Centre about meaning traps in the words 'behaviour' and 'management' grows from a belief in the power of consultation, participation and self-regulation, and which resulted in the 'Inspiring emotional harmony' policy for relationships.
'The approach fits our community,' says Ms McNair, who is quick to add that it may not suit all. 'Our ethos is not always easily understood by other practitioners. But if they visit us, they express their admiration. The children are autonomous and free, at times using the environment unsupervised, but it's not a "laissez-faire" approach; guidance underpins everything.'
The 'Inspiring emotional harmony' policy is itself guided by the centre's Froebelian principles and takes as its starting point Froebel's conviction that 'each person, each child has a particular gift which will become visible if circumstances are right and freedom for expression of the same is given'. This leads them to practice that 'values children as problem-solvers, not problems to be solved'.
'It's a strategic policy that is responsive and flexible to each child in the community,' says Ms McNair. 'Our approach involves children at the earliest stages. Children are listened to, their views are valued and responded to, and we find that children who participate in the decision-making process often resolve situations themselves.'
This confidence in children's views and actions proved a helpful guide when one troubled little boy took to crawling under a table in the hall. 'He was too upset be able to talk about it,' says Ms McNair. 'So we discussed the problem as a team and decided to provide him with something that would offer privacy.
'We bought a tent-like structure which the boy decorated and which, from that moment, was known as the place where anyone could go when they needed to be alone. It was one useful part of a wider strategy to support this child and helped him to work through his sadness over time.'
This might appear to be one of those mythical occasions where all goes according to plan and which indicates that success is indeed 'attainable in all circumstances'. But Ms McNair would not agree.
'These situations are stressful for the child, for other children and for adults who become upset for the child,' she explains. 'The key is to foster continuity and to give the child time to heal. We must go at the child's own pace and not insist on "adult time".'
The advantages of 'tuning in' to young children are well understood among early years practitioners, so it is little surprise that Ms McNair is not alone in her view of its importance for supporting children who cannot control their actions. To reflect this, the next article in the series provides detailed examples of how settings have adjusted their 'pace' to that of individual children and illustrates how their success is rooted in support for staff.
A CAUTIONARY TALE
A cautionary tale from Anni McTavish, expert on creative approaches to supporting young children's feelings and relationships
When I was running a not-for-profit playgroup, we had one child who was violent and aggressive. There was never a feeling of being comfortable and safe around him. He constantly pushed boundaries, and so did his parents. They were always late to drop him off and to pick him up, and would behave inappropriately - though not violently - in the setting.
On the day that he was due to leave, he punched me and several others, and I took him into my office and told him that if anything else happened that day his leaving party would be cancelled. The leaving party was quite a big thing at the setting, and the firmness of that boundary worked for him on that day.
I realise now that I had hit rock bottom: I'd tried every way to be positive in my two years working with him, but he had so consistently tested limits and acted out that, on this occasion, I meant business, and he sensed it.
When the family returned to request a place for their younger child, I made it clear that we weren't sure we wanted them back.
I gave them a term's trial in which firm boundaries were set and said that the place would be withdrawn if any of those boundaries were transgressed.
It was incredibly successful. The relationship with the family changed completely and they realised how much they wanted their child to come to the setting.
All situations with all families and all children help to fine-tune your ethos. It's never 'finished'. Looking back, I realise that when we were first working with the family, the setting's ethos, and my own philosophy and approach, were not clear enough. If they had been, we would have found it easier to set successful boundaries at a much earlier stage, and would not have been forced into an approach that felt draconian.
WINDHAM NURSERY SCHOOL - Additional and different provision
Brain Dance: A ten-minute form of brain gym that gives the children opportunities for practising their physical co-ordination. It also serves as a diagnostic tool to check who can and can't balance, co-ordinate, cross the midline and crawl, etc.
Skills 4 Learning: A strategy devised in the Jigsaw unit. It uses visual symbols in a highly structured adult-led small group session that aims to develop listening, looking, attending to someone else's agenda, turn-taking, waiting and, of course, having fun.
Spirals: A strategy developed by a speech and language therapist (training available through I CAN) aimed at developing the language required for concept development.
Jigsaw: Windham's luxury: children from the mainstream nursery can be targeted to benefit from the specialist communication-centred environment in Jigsaw.
1:1: Can mean virtually anything requiring individual input - behaviour management, play facilitation (in all its forms), occupational therapy-type sessions.
Paired learning: Aimed at meeting the needs of children who are capable of working at more than 1:1 level, but are not ready for a small group.
Differentiated story/singing: Aimed at providing practitioner-led opportunities for children to generate their own language - for the quiet ones, EAL and language delay.
Differentiated environment: For children with a physical disability. Where are the high-contrast spaces for children with a visual impairment? Is there adequate space between equipment for the child who uses a walking frame? For each child with a specific need, is the equipment suitable, and where are the best spaces for maximising learning?
Differentiated approach: This is the one for staff. What strategies do we need to have in place to minimise the impact for a child? How do we square off our round hole so this little square peg can fit and access learning?
REFERENCE
Drifte, C (2008) Encouraging positive behaviour in the early years, 2nd edition, London: Sage
Pat Gordon-Smith is a writer and editor for the early years. See her children's rights blog at http://patsky.blogspot.com
Part 2 will be published in Nursery World on 12 August
