Nursery World - Piece it together

Children who aren't developing as expected may require observation to identify a special need. Sue Roffey explains One of the indications that children are developing either differently or more slowly than their peers is behaviour that is hard to understand or manage. This behaviour might be more intense, less skilled or just not the same as others of the same age. Often people are confused by such children and want to know why they are like that. There is not always an easy answer.

One of the indications that children are developing either differently or more slowly than their peers is behaviour that is hard to understand or manage. This behaviour might be more intense, less skilled or just not the same as others of the same age. Often people are confused by such children and want to know why they are like that. There is not always an easy answer.

Finding out It is vital not to jump to conclusions. Spending time gathering good information enables you to put pieces of the jigsaw together. This is the essence of good assessment and includes observations, exploratory conversations and structuring situations to see what happens. It is useful to look for 'clusters' of behaviour that occur over time. Not every child will exhibit every behaviour in a category, but there should be enough indication to give an idea of the most appropriate intervention.

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