The Early Years Intervention Toolkit

Inclusive Activities to Support Child Development

Linda Tallent, Jean Thompson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000518450
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Early Years Intervention Toolkit provides a range of ready-made activities to enable early years practitioners and health visitors to address observed difficulties in a child's development prior to starting school. It includes a checklist of observed behaviours which links to a range of effective and engaging activities to support children's development across the three prime foundational areas of learning: Communication and Language; Physical Development; and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Activities focus on a variety of crucial skills such as speaking and listening, moving and handling, and forming relationships, making use of materials that are readily available in every early years setting.

This toolkit offers:

• A time-saving approach to interventions, with additional guidance on planning, providing, and recording appropriate interventions
• Advice and activities to share with parents for them to try at home
• A framework to enable early years practitioners to identify specific difficulties in key areas of development
• Downloadable resources to support activities and interventions

The Early Years Intervention Toolkit is an inclusive programme and all children in the early years will benefit from taking part in the activities. It will be an essential resource for early years practitioners to effectively identify and support learning needs in child development and will boost the confidence of young children as they prepare for Key Stage One.

1 The importance of early identification and intervention

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243298-1

The importance of early identification—the recognition of possible delays in reaching early milestones or differences in behaviour or development—and intervention, especially in the first five years of life, has been emphasised for many years and continues to be a focus in the Early Years. The benefits of early identification and intervention can help prevent further problems developing in the future as the child continues along their journey through education and life and can reduce the need for costly interventions and greatly benefit parents in supporting their young children.

Children often arrive at their first learning and education provision without the key skills they need to learn and progress well. There may be elements of their development that are delayed or they may have gaps in their development for a number of reasons. Being behind in development in the early years of life can have a significant impact on the child achieving their full potential and may develop significant barriers to learning. It can also cause the child to present a range of different behaviours, which are often the first things that we notice. These can often be addressed simply as behavioural issues without finding the underlying cause.

Children wake each day with the wonderment of what lies ahead. They want to have fun, positive experiences and interactions with children and adults and they naturally want to please. They do not wake up and plan to "not do the right thing”. However, as we all know, many children struggle to do these "right things" and can often present behaviours that we may not expect or like.

If we notice differences in behaviour early, there will always be a reason for it and it may be linked to an area of development that may need intervention. These differences in behaviour might present as:

• Refusal to comply (not following instructions)
• Disrupting others/poor social interaction
• Hiding or being withdrawn
• Running away/avoiding people/tasks
• Hitting out, biting, showing aggression
• Following their own agenda
• Tiredness
• Emotional, angry, crying, generally unhappy

When helping practitioners to identify a cause for concern, we ask them to think about the behaviour the child is presenting and say, "If only they could or if only they would . . ., what would that be?". Some examples of responses were, "If only they could sit still on the carpet” "If only they wouldn't snatch toys" "If only they would follow my instructions" or "If only they would engage with other children".

The responses to the question have already identified a barrier to successful learning. The next step is to ask "WHY' this behaviour is happening and begin to investigate through observations, discussions with parents and staff and identifying possible triggers. We can then implement an appropriate intervention. If we only look at and consider the behaviour and attempt to support this without looking at the cause, we will be much less successful in helping the child to move forward in their development. In many cases it can have the opposite effect and cause increased frustration in the child.

Behaviours that are different from what we expect are always the result of something else, they are not planned by the young child. We need to identify what this "something else" is and provide systematic interventions to address the issues and help the children to become successful learners.

Systematic early intervention is the key to giving these children the foundations they need to reach their potential and to become lifelong learners.

The 2014 SEND Code of Practice (which is just as valid today as it was then) puts emphasis on the importance of early identification and schools' role within this:

All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN. The benefits of early identification are widely recognised - identifying need at the earliest point and then making effective provision to improve long-term outcomes for the child or young person.

(Section 6.14 of the Code)

If a child is identified as having a gap or being behind in their development, this does not necessarily mean that they will have a Special Educational Need. However, early identification and intervention can identify a specific need early and with the appropriate early intervention can significantly improve the life chances of those who do have a Special Educational Need.

If every child is to be given the chance to become a successful learner, schools and settings need to identify from the very beginning children who are not attaining age-related expectations in Communication and Language, in Physical Development and in Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Effective intervention in the early years can reduce the gap and improve outcomes for those children who are working below age-related expectations.

Interventions that produce positive outcomes for children are those that meet the individual needs of the child. In order to determine the specific needs of a child who is at risk of not meeting their potential, practitioners should interact with the child and observe them taking part in child-initiated activities. Discussion with parents and carers will give the practitioner insight into the family situation. This information can then be used to plan challenging and appropriate activities that will be tailored to the individual needs of the child. Once an intervention programme is in place, practitioners need to track the child's progress and measure the impact of the programme.

In order for intervention to be successful, practitioners have a crucial role in supporting the child to reach their full potential. Engaging with the child in systematically planned, multi-sensory, play-based activities that address their area of need will enable the child to move beyond their current limits.

What can we reasonably expect from young children? As adults our social relationships are built on give and take, making allowances, consideration of feelings, circumstances and individual needs, mutual respect, valuing the individual. All of this applies to our relationships with children and our expectations of them. Therefore, our expectations of children must be realistic and take account of their age, stage of development and emotional state.

2 Making meaningful observations

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243298-2

Making the time to closely observe and listen to children is the most effective way of identifying delays in development and differences in behaviour. It is a privilege to be able to watch how children communicate, interact and behave with their peers and adults and how they physically move around an environment.

When children arrive in a school or a setting for the first time, the experienced teacher or practitioner will immediately spot anything "different". The first thing to note is often a child's behaviour, whether it is unusual, undesirable or simply different to that of their peers.

It is appropriate to allow a short period of time for a child to adjust to a new environment, teacher or group of friends. In the Early Years, a child who is coming into a setting for the very first time and leaving Mum, Dad, Gran or carer, can be very daunted and become anxious. Once that period of settling has passed, if your concerns about the child's development or behaviour remain, then close observations are necessary. Consider the child in a completely holistic way. Avoid focusing on what you think might be an issue.

Behaviour is often the first thing that alerts us to a delay or difference and this can often be a barrier to successful learning. Our main aim is to identify what this barrier might be and try to remove it or reduce it.

Ask yourself "If only he would . . ." or "If only she could. . . ."

For example, “If only Tommy could take turns . . ." or "If only Sophie would stop pulling hair . . . ." You are already identifying a barrier that is preventing the child from learning successfully. This can be applied to any child in any primary key stage.

Creating an holistic profile

In order to create an holistic profile for a child and to find out where there may be a dela...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter 1 The importance of early identification and intervention
• Chapter 2 Making meaningful observations
• Chapter 3 Using the Early Years Intervention Toolkit
• Chapter 4 Checklists of observed behaviours
• Chapter 5 The early years intervention activities
• Chapter 6 Parents as partners
• Chapter 7 Parent support activities (PSA)
• Index