Post Covid, engagement in learning has been a key area of need for many schools and young people. Anxieties run high, emotionally based non attendance is a key factor but the time spent out of education has also had an impact on lesson attendance for many. Many young people are increasingly attending school but struggling to remain within lessons or go to lessons at all. Support plans around these young people often involve punitive measure which can increasingly lead to more time out of school completely, pushing the re-engagement further away. For some, the point of school may have been mudd ..read more

Addressing emotionally based school avoidance – a model. Firstly this article will use both this term and emotionally based school non attendance interchangeably. The preferred term at Semh.co.uk is emotionally based school non attendance as this is a factual, non judgemental term. The school avoidance aspect gives a degree of judgement and we try to remain curious as to the issues, rather than making assumptions (for example as to what is being avoided). Both are used interchangeably to maximise the exposure to those who may be looking for help under different terminology. Recently there ..read more

There is one way to ensure a relational support plan does not get read – and that is to make it too long. Often too much background information can make it unlikely a document is shared too for fear of data protection issues. For this reason, we are going to look at one page relational support plans to help support a young person in the classroom and from a pastoral perspective. An example table at the bottom will provide a possible layout. The key aspects of this are time and type of support. Time is broken down into two categories – every lesson and every week. Every lesson routine is the ..read more

There is one way to ensure a relational plan does not get read – and that is to make it too long. Often too much background information can make it unlikely a document is shared too for fear of data protection issues. For this reason, we are going to look at one page relational plans to help support a young person in the classroom and from a pastoral perspective. An example table at the bottom will provide a possible layout. The key aspects of this are time and type of support. Time is broken down into two categories – every lesson and every week. Every lesson routine is the domain of the cl ..read more

Whether it is trauma informed, attachment aware, child centred etc etc professionals working with young people strive to understand and address individual needs a young person has. Often the terminology can create difficulties – for example saying trauma informed makes some feel they are making a diagnosis. For this reason I want to lay out a way of working that I call “Child Informed Planning”… What is a child informed plan? The process of creating such a plan involves gathering as much information about a young person as possible from a variety of sources and using this to establish what mig ..read more

Sensory profiles (or sensory checklists) are incredibly powerful tools to help adults and young people to identify what sensations they make seek or avoid (or not notice) and what can be done about it. For teachers working with young people, this can have a huge impact on associated behaviours. Sensory assessments can be quite difficult to secure through the NHS but much advice is available online to consider patterns in behaviours and actions. NHS / local authority advice around sensory profiles also help to identify appropriate strategies and environmental adjustments. We have made a tool ba ..read more

Click here to use the Positive Attributes Activity Tool When it comes to self esteem, praise has a hierarchy… The least effective praise is vague and delivered en masse. Specific praise works best and even better when delivered by an adult who knows the child well – this can really enhance a sense of self worth and self esteem. To evidence real success against criteria a child themselves have chosen, I have begun to use the Positive Attributes Activity. This tool, inspired by narrative approaches, can help to facilitate the initial 1:1 process of setting up a Positive Attributes Book, as deta ..read more

History is important. We all understand the impact of the past on the present. Decisions taken today are directly impacted by those made in previous years. Experience allows us to develop and progress. We build arguments for the future based on what we know has happened before. And we like to tell others about this  – we leave reviews, we tell stories. We are more likely to share bad experiences than good ones because we are social creatures who want to protect others  – its why bad news sells. And we all have our own history that directly impacts how we view the world. Our fram ..read more

Sensory Processing Our brain receives information from a range of senses within our body. This information is often handled in a way by the brain that enables a person to feel alert, comfortable and in control within an environment. However, for some, this may not happen in the same straightforward fashion. At times the sense can feel overwhelming (sensory overload) leading to upset and potentially triggering stronger feelings. This is known as sensory avoiding. For some it can be the opposite – they may crave the sensations to feel a sense of calm, sensory seeking. Sensory Suggester ..read more

By clicking through to this page, you have shown you already have this skill within your repertoire. What is it, this key that can unlock even the most complex behaviours in time? Curiosity. It’s what brought you to this page. When we apply curiosity to a child’s behaviour we have the potential to see the behaviours as communicated clues instead of random, arbitrary actions or negative efforts made consciously towards creating harm to ourselves and others. When we use our curiosity we go beyond universal approaches that may embed disadvantage and we start to meet individual needs. With curiosi ..read more