A research project in Cumbria has revealed that young children with severe learning difficulties can take bigger strides forward with a family-centred approach to early intervention.
The three-year study, which was carried out by Lindsey Winterton for a PhD thesis, is influencing the way local early support teams work. Dr Winterton, a senior specialist advisory teacher for early years, says, 'My research revealed that early years specialist teachers were working with no specific training, no shared perceptions of their role and some lack of understanding of the process of working with parents.
'Additionally, there did not seem to be any over-arching way of evaluating the success of their work, and some confusion existed with regard to policies, practices, standards and expectations. As a result, information was needed to inform future training and practice in order to make improvements.'
The knowledge Dr Winterton gained from her research led to her co-ordinating the Early Support Pathfinder in Cumbria and becoming lead trainer for the approved Early Support Training Team. The focus is now firmly on influencing parents' skills and abilities to encourage their child's development.
'This in turn can lead to them developing more positive perceptions of their child's abilities and potential,' she says.
Parent as teacher
Cumbria is a large rural county with significant pockets of deprivation. When it comes to helping those children who are identified as having severe learning difficulties, work has traditionally tended to be child-focused, with a professional teacher making regular visits. However, Dr Winterton's research highlights that equal attention must be given to the parents, to help them scaffold their child's learning on a daily basis.
Using a family-centred approach, parent and teacher work together in partnership to agree targets they want to achieve in the coming weeks, and these then form part of the Family Service Plan. Advice can be given on the best strategies and approaches to encourage the child's development within everyday family life. Sorting the washing together, for example, can provide an opportunity to develop concepts of 'big' and 'little', or to work on colour matching or making pairs.
Generally, the parent who is the main carer at home with the child works in a negotiated partnership with the interventionist, but some written notes are given during home visits so advice can be implemented by all the family.
Dr Winterton suggests that the qualities needed to work in partnership with parents include respect for others, genuineness, empathy, integrity, honesty and a friendly open manner. These personal and interpersonal qualities should be valued and matured at an organisational level, while training on skills can be designed and delivered.
Home visiting skills include communicating, negotiating, problem solving and sharing professional expertise with parents in a sensitive manner. Skill in working as part of a multi-agency team is also needed, addressed by the Early Support training.
Dr Winterton believes that her research has helped her to create a new interventionist model that takes account of the importance of negotiation.
'I had not appreciated how much the parent and the professional roles and behaviours change over the course of home-based intervention,' she says.
'Analysing behaviours through speech was fascinating. I was able to reveal and explain how roles of the partners changed as the relationship developed over time, with behaviour patterns becoming more similar and perspectives converging.'
It seems reasonable to suggest that as perspectives move closer together, then the process of negotiation becomes easier and conflict will be less likely.
But according to Dr Winterton, professionals may not always appreciate the importance of adapting to these changing roles.
The research revealed that interventionists are carrying out a complex role encompassing that of a teacher, supporter, advisor and co-ordinator in their work with families.
At different times, different aspects of the role may be more or less important, and professionals need to be sensitive to this. It is likely that practitioners will only have received training on a small part of what their role may include, such as the teaching element. In order to deliver best practice and improve services and outcomes for children and families, other elements of their role, such as supporting, advising and co-ordinating, need to be acknowledged and accommodated within job specifications and working practices.
'The main factors affecting the convergence of parent and professional behaviour are the professional's increasing emotional involvement with the family and knowledge of the child, and the parent's increasing knowledge of child development and scaffolding, and direction of activities.'
The research highlights that the involvement of professionals may lead to stressful situations and the need for support from colleagues. These findings have important implications for the supervision and support structure for early interventionists - particularly key workers - which are now being developed and strengthened.
Creating a family model
It is a bonus that Dr Winterton's research has been able to dovetail with the development of early support services in Cumbria. 'This has led to the training and implementation of a multi-agency team around the family model,' she says. 'As we embedded Early Support within good working practices we formed an Early Support County Steering Group, which has drawn up a family-centred integrated working pathway for children with disabilities.'
The integrated pathway's aims include:
- Each family has a key worker
- Making families feel they are partners in the enterprise
- The team works together to meet the family's needs
- Procedures are clear and provision is equitable throughout the county.
Dr Winterton testifies to positive feedback from families themselves. 'Parents say "It works" and "We can just pick up the phone. It's like friends",' she says.
Clearly an interventionist approach that addresses family and home gives children with learning disabilities the best chance to progress.
PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS
Partnership with parents is a unifying theme of the Children's Plan. The Government has pledged £30m over the next three years to help parents deliver skills and learn with their children in schools.
Family Learning programmes enable parents and carers to develop their skills and learn with their children. This includes the family literacy, language and numeracy programme, which engages approximately 70,000 parents and carers a year and targets the most disadvantaged families. The new funding is designed to free up more spaces to meet increasing demand.
In order to meet 2020 goals for educational achievement, there will be more support for a range of services designed to reach those who need additional help. This includes:
- spending £18m over the three years to improve the quality of teaching for children with special educational needs
- better initial teaching training and continuous professional development
- better data for schools on how well children with special educational needs are progressing
- a pilot scheme in which children with dyslexia receive Reading Recovery support or one-to-one tuition from specialist dyslexia teachers
Personalised teaching and learning is likely to become the norm in every early years setting and classroom, stretching and challenging the able as well as ensuring no child falls behind.
More information:
- www.cumbria.gov.ukgenderandachievement/nhss_boys_achievement2.pdf?version=1.
