Children with special educational needs often find that many adults are involved in making decisions about their provision and educational priorities. As a result they may end up feeling frustrated and disempowered, with a sense that they have little or no control over what is happening to them in the setting.
Practitioners can play a vital role in countering this situation by seeking the children's views and showing they are valued. Finding out how a child feels about participating in nursery activities will also help to measure the effectiveness of any additional support.
Gaining an insight
There are particular benefits for children with special or additional needs:
* Provides them with an opportunity to express their views on their strengths and their priorities regarding areas they would like to develop
* Enriches the relationship between a child and practitioner, especially the key worker and SENCO, as they spend more time one-to-one with each other
* Gives children a chance to explain their likes and dislikes about things such as nursery activities and the physical environment
* Highlights any concerns a child may have about their own learning experiences, such as when working on specific IEP targets
* Allows them to comment and have their voice represented in meetings
* Offers them the opportunity to influence their everyday experiences
* Builds self-confidence and self- esteem as children begin to realise that adults are listening to them.
There are also benefits for practitioners and the setting SENCO:
* Provides a valuable insight into how a child with special or additional needs views himself or herself
* Helps them to be more effective in understanding and meeting a child's needs
* Helps them plan better for individual needs and suggest suitable IEP targets
* Gives them a chance to reflect on their own professional practice, especially in relation to those children with special or additional needs
* Provides them with an opportunity to consider the physical environment and the learning experiences from the child's point of view
* Allows them, especially the SENCO, to represent the child and their views to a wider set of professionals
* Offers a sound basis for exchanging information with parents about their child.
Ideas for getting started
There are many ways of gaining children's views depending upon their age, stage of development, individual circumstances and preferred methods of communication. We know that even babies have ways of expressing wants and preferences, so whatever the child's abilities, all children can contribute something positive to the dialogue.
For those children with good verbal ability or language skills, conferencing is an excellent method of gaining insight and information.
This involves a familiar adult, such as the child's key worker, talking with the child.
Using carefully thought-through conversation, practitioners can find out how children are feeling and what they think about their everyday experiences at the setting. It can become a regular part of IEP reviews and is particularly helpful when setting or reviewing progress towards targets or in preparation for an annual review.
During a conferencing session it is important that the child feels comfortable and at ease and is happy to engage in the conversation. The conversation should be put into context for the child by explaining that this is a way of telling their parents and the professionals who help them how they think they are getting on.
Where there are specific target activities, questions can be quite focused.
A good idea is to ask the child to review an activity and show how they felt it went. This type of review is best carried out immediately following the activity while it is still fresh in the child's mind.
The conversations can be recorded in many ways, such as on a tape recorder, on video or in note form. The child can be involved in the recording by practitioners telling them what they are writing down, or practitioners can develop their own target review sheet. Children should also be encouraged to make their own representation by giving them a clipboard and paper.
For children with limited verbal communication there are a variety of other ways to gather their views. Mark-making using drawing materials or paint can be a useful way for children to express preferences or highlight dislikes. Some may draw or paint something they have enjoyed, while others can use simple alternatives. Even very young children can point at or choose from photographs, symbols or drawings of activities or lead an adult to their favourite areas of the nursery.
Some settings have successfully used a similar idea by creating room or nursery plans showing the various activity areas, on which children can then place happy or sad sticker faces or make their own marks. Stickers can be a useful method of recording, but are not suitable for use with all children.
Feeling involved
Most settings undertake some type of small group or circle time, and these can be utilised to discuss wider issues, such as the nursery environment and resources. For example, children can be asked what they would buy for the nursery if they could choose. This can be made more specific by enlisting children's views on whether or not to buy a specific piece of equipment or book.
The practitioner could take this further by questioning them on their choices, or use it as an opportunity to introduce or explain a piece of specialist or adapted equipment for an individual child. By using a larger version of the nursery plan, practitioners can find out which areas of the nursery a child likes best or least, and involve them in planning improvements.
Imaginative play can also provide the perfect opportunity for practitioners to listen to children. During role play, by dressing up and by using small world figures, practitioners can help children to recreate scenarios, activities and games that they have taken part in. Puppets and persona dolls are also excellent for allowing children to demonstrate, act out and express their likes and dislikes as well as their thoughts and feelings in a safe manner.
All of these activities and methods are straightforward and are already part of everyday life at the nursery. Through practitioners asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers, all children can have their voices heard.
Chris Dukes and Maggie Smith are the authors of A Practical Guide to Pre-School Inclusion (Paul Chapman Publishing, 18.99)
Case study:Billy
Billy is three-and-a-half and has co-ordination difficulties. He currently has an IEP which has been written to include advice from his physiotherapist. Billy's targets include practising his gross motor skills through various activities, and he also has a target to develop his self-help skills, such as putting on his own coat.
Pam, his key worker, decided to hold a conference with Billy prior to his IEP review. She sat outside on a bench with Billy while he had his snack.
Pam had noted that Billy had come outside with his coat already on. Billy explained that his mother had taught him a new way of putting it on. He took his coat off and showed Pam his new method of putting his arms in first and flipping the coat over his head.
As many of his target activities take place outside, Pam used a plan of the outside area as a starting point for the conference. She confirmed that Billy does enjoy outdoor play, but discovered that he is becoming frustrated because he is not able to ride a nursery trike and 'can't join in the fun' with his friends.
Billy prefers to practise his target skills with a small group of friends and not one-to-one with Pam.
Billy showed real pride in his new ability to kick a large football and has been practising at home with his brother in the garden as well as at nursery.
From this short conference Pam was able to gather much valuable information about Billy's skills, progress towards his targets and the next appropriate steps. All was done with Billy's full co-operation and consultation.
Further information
* The SEN Code of Practice (DfES 2001)
* The SEN Toolkit - Section 4, Enabling Pupil Participation (DfES 2001)
* Listening as a way of life by A Clark (National Children's Bureau on behalf of Sure Start) - series of five leaflets
* Never too young - how young children can take responsibility and take decisions (Save the Children Fund, 10)
* Children as partners in planning by L Fajerman, M Jarret and F Sutton (Save the Children, 15).