Struggling to include?

Occasionally settings can find themselves struggling to include one or two particular children who for, a variety of reasons, do not respond to the setting’s repertoire of behaviour support strategies. Despite their best attempts nothing seems to be working. Some of the parents are becoming anxious and threatening to leave. What are their options? It’s important to remember that Hampshire does not endorseexclusion as an appropriate or desirable strategy to manage difficult behaviour. Ofsted describes resorting to exclusion asreflective of weak practice. They go on to say:

‘ ………Weaknesses in these areas would impact on judgements given for management and overall effectiveness’………‘we would expect settings to show they had taken every opportunity to work with parents and other agencies to meet the needs of the child and for their behaviour management policy to reflect their approach’

Elizabeth Srogi, QAM, Ofsted 23/12/2009

Ofsted’s point is that excluding a child can be seen as an indication of a setting’s inability to address a child’s particular needs rather than the needs themselves.It is important to also remember that exclusion does not only happen when the child’s place at the setting has been permanently withdrawn, a child is being excluded when they are not offered a place despite there being places available. They are being excluded when the setting suggests parents should consider looking elsewhere for their childcare as their needs cannot be met there.A child is even experiencing exclusion when they are offered restricted access to the activities or limited attendance.

The key to a successful placement is good working relationships with all parents and carers, an excellent whole staff approach and the development of a clear inclusion plan.

Working with parents

It is essential throughout a child’s placement at the setting that an open and honest dialogue is maintained between staff and parents and carers – this will ensure thateffectivecommunication is established and sustained.

Parents and carers must be aware of a setting’s duty of care; to ensure that all children shall be included. Hampshire County Council’s local authority provides agencies and support services to this end and a setting could be failing in theirduty if they do not engage with or take advice from the available appropriate agencies.

Parents and carers should be expected to work closely with the setting staff and outside agencies inline with policies and protocols.

Parents and carers should always be encouraged to read the setting’s inclusion policy and best practice would recommend a parental signature to indicate that they have read and understood it.

Information from policies, such as inclusion and behaviour could be displayed clearly on notice boards and included in occasional newsletters as gentle reminders for parents. For example, ‘when working with children within an early years setting we will of course need support and guidance and we are very fortunate to be able to work with outside agencies provided by Hampshire’.

All parents need to be confident that all staff are working hard with both the family and agencies involved to resolve any issues and to provide all children with quality care.If parents and carers come with concerns, it is important that they are kept informed as to how the issues are being managed. They might need to be reminded that every step is taken to ensure that all children are included and that this applies to every child within the setting. Reassure parents that the setting is awareof their concernsandare actively trying to resolve them. Ask for patience and understanding from them at thistime and remind them, ifit was their child the setting would be working just as hard to ensure their inclusion within the group.

Settings might need to remind parentsthatvery young children all develop different skills and at different rates and as a consequence somewill findcertain aspects of pre school life more difficult than others.

It is thesetting's responsibility to include all children to the best of their ability and sometimes that can bea challenge to staff and it is during these times that parental support is most valuable.

Remind parents that Hampshire's ethos is one of inclusion and hopefully all parents will understand thatthe benefits of including all children far outweigh the challenges.

Always remember, every family has the right to confidentiality and privacy when discussing concerns.

Whole staff approach

Any child of concern must be made known to the Area Inclusion Coordinator Service. It is important to adopt a consistent approachwhen supporting the child at home and in the setting.

All staff should be aware of the managing behaviour in the early years DVD materials and ideally several staff members should have attended Positive Approaches to Challenging Behaviour training (see horizons training pages)

All staff should be aware of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)in the early years and in particular the implications of the term ‘reasonable adjustments’. All staff should be able to share with parents, carers and involved agencies, how they are working with the children. Staff should be able to produce current records and plans if required to do so.

All staff can improve their skills when supporting parents by attending training, for example ‘Share the care; together with parents’ training, ask your local Area InCo Service for more details.

Developing a clear inclusion plan

The parents and carers of a child of concern should be invited to a meeting to discuss the concerns with setting staff, the Area Inclusion coordinator and other agencies already involved.

Parents need to be aware that there are concerns within the setting and that the ultimate goal of the process is to resolve the current difficulties

the meeting should discuss and agree a clear and detailed action plan. This plan should identify areas for development and suggested ways forward, for example;

additional funding may be required to improve staff to child ratios or to purchase particular resources. Specialist training might be required by staff or the decision to refer to an outside agency such as Portage Plus, could be taken at this time. Strategies for supporting the child in the setting would also be discussed and this might include agreeing targets, rewards and sanctions.

A further outcome of the plan might be that the parentsorcarers be asked to seek help from their health service, refer themselves to other professionals as appropriate or to consider the benefits of attending appropriate training, such as the practical parenting programme (Triple P).

The plan should have a clear time-frame and review date and must be monitored throughout the process. A written account of the meeting including the plan should be circulated to all attendees after the meeting. Include clear actions for all with outcomes that are measurable and that will allow for effective evaluation.

Staff, parents, carers and other agencies may be required to attend subsequent meetings when available. At these meetings it should be clearly explained what has worked well and where concerns remain, before discussing the next steps. Be mindful that some strategies take longer to become embedded than others and this includes training programmes. For example, if a parent has chosen to attend Triple P training, do not set the next meeting before that course has been completed.

Services for Young Children – Area Inclusion Coordinator Team – October 2011