CHCIC512A: Plan the inclusion of children with additional needs

Implement strategies to meet the child’s additional needs

Contents

Support child’s entry in the service 3

Transition 3

Adjust level of support over time according to the child’s needs5

Encouraging staff 5

Provide support to others to implement strategies 7

Supporting others 7

Develop specific program initiatives to meet a child’s needs 8

Investigate and trial strategies that may address difficulties 9

Implement strategies designed by a specialist according to directions 10

Working with specialists 10

Respond to the daily needs of children with additional needs, seeking assistance as required 11

2 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 © NSW DET 2010

Support child’s entry in the service

When children commence at a children’s service, they require additional support. They need to feel safe and secure and that they belong in that environment.

TransitionChildren with an additional need have a particular need to feel safe and secure, with a sense of belonging. They require a well-planned transition program to fully support their individual needs when they move from one environment to another (eg home to childcare or childcare to school).

The main benefit of a transition program is that it enables the child, family and service to make adjustments over a period of time aimed at the inclusion of the child. It allows the child to experience a gentle transition to the new environment.

Consider the following transition situation:

Sean had a physical disability and was extremely clingy with his mother—very understandable when we consider what he had been through in his first three years of life.

He attended a group at early intervention one day per week with his mother and the special education teacher would visit him at home once a fortnight. As part of his individual family service plan (IFSP), Sean would begin preschool two days per week at a local service.

The Director of the service attended the IFSP meetings and strategies were put into place for a transition program to be implemented. The program consisted of a series of visits and short stays to slowly transition Sean to the new service catering to his individual needs and ensuring that the service had access to appropriate resources so that they could successfully include Sean.

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 3© NSW DET 2010

Transition program

Sean’s transition program

Week 1 Director and room leader attend IFSP.

Week 2 Director, room leader and case coordinator meet with parents at service.

Week 3 Service makes adjustments to physical environment with support from special education teacher, occupational therapist and physiotherapist. Sean and his mother twice visit the service for the morning.

Week 4 Service continues to make adjustments to physical environment and program.

Staff learn about Sean’s physical condition.

Sean visits service twice with his mother for lunch and afternoon tea.

Week 5 Sean spends two mornings at the service with special education teacher.

IFSP team support service and assist with changes and adjustments.

Week 6 Sean spends two mornings at service.

Week 7 Sean attends full days with a visit from special education teacher.

Week 8 Sean attends two full days.

Week 9 Sean attends two full days.

Week 10 Sean attends two full days.

IFSP team meets to discuss progress and to revise individual education plan.

As you can see, a transition program fully supports the child, family and service allowing for additional resources to be accessed and for the service to make necessary adjustments. The program allows staff time to acknowledge their feelings about accepting the child into the service. An effective transition program also allows carers to deal with any negative feelings they may have in accepting the child at the service.

Activity 1

4 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 © NSW DET 2010

Adjust level of support over time according to the child’s needs

Encouraging staffWorking with children who have additional needs can be extremely confronting and difficult for many staff members. Working in early childhood services is extremely busy and many staff members may believe, often justifiably, that they don’t have the time, the knowledge or the experience to work with such children. However with support and guidance, we can encourage staff to adopt inclusive practices and attitudes.

It is essential that all staff are aware of their own beliefs and feelings and that they fully understand and embrace the service’s philosophy. Your service policy needs to clearly demonstrate the importance of inclusion and staff should acknowledge this.

To achieve a high quality inclusive program, staff require support to meet the individual needs of the child with confidence. It is important when supporting staff that you act as a positive role model. If you demonstrate confidence, in working children who have additional needs it is likely that the staff you work with will reflect this in their work. It is essential that we learn about the child and their additional needs and share our expertise and knowledge with peers.

Activity 2

Activity 3

Encouraging children, families and the communityIn encouraging inclusive attitudes, you also need to consider the feelings, attitudes and beliefs of children, families and the local community. Sometimes people have negative thoughts or make negative comments about the inclusion of children with additional needs into your service. This is because individuals are often misinformed or are unaware of the facts.

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 5© NSW DET 2010

For example, in the late 1980s there was a well-reported incident in NSW involving a child with HIV who was attending a children’s service. When the community and parents heard about it, there was outrage. Parents withdrew their children from the service and protested that a child with HIV should not attend because of the risk of transmission.

These people were unaware of the facts and had no understanding of how HIV is transmitted. They were fearful that their child could be infected with HIV if they played with a child who had the illness. These families and the local community needed to be educated about HIV and its transmission. Eventually this did happen and the situation settled down. Imagine how traumatic this would have been for the children, families, the service and the community.

It is important that we provide accurate, current information to families about additional needs and inclusive practices to ensure that they are well informed. The more people know, the more comfortable they will be with the situation. We should also provide opportunities for children and their families to explore difference, to talk about difference in a positive way and to acknowledge the benefits that difference brings.

6 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 © NSW DET 2010

Provide support to others to implement strategies

Supporting othersIt is important to provide support for families, staff, specialists and professionals in the inclusion of a child with additional needs.

You can support others by ensuring that:

• all the parties communicate with each other• the service acknowledges and implements families’ goals and

expectations • all staff and the IFSP team are actively involved from the beginning• service staff are involved in collecting and interpreting observations as

they believe they have valid opinions about the child’s strengths, interests and needs.

• the service provides staff with opportunities to enhance their knowledge and develop an understanding of the child’s additional need

• staff have access to specialist resources • service staff observe the demonstration of specialist strategies and

develop enough understanding to confidently implement them.• IFSP team provides feedback to all service staff on the strategies they are

implementing• staff and IFSP members are involved in the ongoing evaluation of the

child.

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 7© NSW DET 2010

Develop specific program initiatives to meet a child’s needs

When planning for a child with additional needs you need to think ‘outside the square’. Be innovative and resourceful in finding ways to enhance the program to meet each child’s individual needs. You can do this by developing program initiatives.

Initiatives will be different for each service and each child and may include the following:

• Get to know the child by observing them in a variety of settings.• Ask the IFSP team to observe the child • Encourage therapists to implement therapy sessions while the child is at

the service.• Teach Makaton signing to all children at the service.• Access specialist resources, for example, a visit from the children’s

hospital to educate parents about infectious illnesses.• Use the Internet to develop links with other services or organisations that

have high quality inclusion programs.• Build a network for services with children with particular additional needs.• Establish a support group for parents.• Fundraise for required resources.

Can you think of any additional initiatives?

8 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 © NSW DET 2010

Investigate and trial strategies that may address difficulties

When working with a child with an additional need, difficulties may arise that may make it difficult for you to provide them with an appropriate high quality service.

Difficulties might include:

• There are insufficient resources to support the child.• The child is not ready .• The child has moved beyond the level of the planned experience.• Staff are unable to implement strategies.

To address difficulties such as these you will need to:

• draw on all your knowledge and experience of working with children• be innovative and trial new strategies, remembering to access all available

resources.

Activity 4

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 9© NSW DET 2010

Implement strategies designed by a specialist according to directions

To fully support the inclusion of a child with additional needs, service staff need to work closely with everyone working with the child. Professionals and specialists such as special education teachers, physiotherapists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists can design specialist strategies to be implemented in the early childhood environment.

Strategies need to be implemented very carefully under the direction of a specialist. If a strategy is inappropriately implemented it may be detrimental to the child’s overall development. For example, service staff may decide that a child is pigeon-toed and place a child’s shoes on the wrong feet to correct this. This would impair the child’s ability to move around and may cause them to fall over.

Working with specialistsWhen working with specialists, the following issues are important:

• Early childhood staff should be included in IFSP and planning meetings. • There is regular communication with the specialist and the early

childhood service. • You are kept up to date with a child’s current progress so you can adjust

your planning accordingly.• You must have copies of specialist reports and sufficient time to discuss

these with the specialist and the child’s parents.• The specialist should demonstrate how to implement strategies.• Regular visits by the specialists are arranged to ensure strategies are

being implemented in an appropriate way.

Activity 5

10 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 © NSW DET 2010

Respond to the daily needs of children with additional needs, seeking assistance as required

To support the child with additional needs on a daily basis you need to:

• follow the recommendations on the IFSP• maintain developmental, health and hygiene practices to support the

child in all areas• ensure you have enough staff to implement the plan for this child as well

as the other children in the service. this may include having one-on-one staff at times or support specialists assisting the child

• remember to review and evaluate the plan • communicate with and gain regular feedback from all involved in the IFSP

and seek specialist advice and support as required.

Activity 6a

Activity 6b

Activity 6c

Activity 6d

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCIC512A: Reader LO 9371 11© NSW DET 2010