Inclusivity in the Early Years

In this article, she talks about some of the more recent experiences and challenges she is facing in schools and Early Years settings.

One of the challenges for practitioners working with children in the first few years of life is understanding if a delay in development is nature, nurture or a combination.  Professionals have long known that early intervention is key to early development (Paul and Roth, 2011).  This does not mean that people are not able to be successful later in life, but giving a child solid foundations in early years means that progress and success can be seen much earlier.

This has been a challenge since the ‘Covid Years’.  Early Years practitioners have seen widespread challenges around speech, language and communication skills in classrooms, across the world.  Login to Linked In or Twitter and you’ll easily find frustrated professionals.  What do we do?  Should these children be referred for therapy?  What can we do to understand the needs?

The first thing practitioners should do is discuss concerns with families.  Asking questions such as: Do the children talk at home? Do they find their children’s communication in line with sibling development, friends or family members?  Some families will not hesitate to seek immediate professional advice from paediatric development practitioners or therapists.  Others are more reluctant, and that is ok too.  Have constructive conversations and take your lead from the families. Be careful of the language you use, indicate a delay but don’t indicate a special need. Parents have a right to be notified if you are seeing a challenge.  Some families do struggle with the concept that a delay may be present, and that is okay too.  Resist the temptation to ‘tell’ them what to do and take them on the journey with you.  Provide clear and evidence based information and allow them to make their own decisions from the options you provide.  Options often include

1) wait and see, maintaining records

2) introduce an intervention and wait and see,

3) work with a paediatrician to gather more information

4) refer to a Speech and Language Therapist for observation and screening.

Secondly, I would advise conducting an internal baseline assessment to understand the strengths of a child and the areas in which they are struggling.  One of my favourite, quick and easy assessments is WellComm.  Created by GL, WellComm comes in two packs.  6 months to 6 years and 6 years to 11 years.  A very simple baseline can be completed in less than 10 minutes with a student 1:1.  This can be conducted in class, when other children are working on an activity, it can also very easily be conducted by a classroom assistant.  The results provide a clear idea of abilities and challenges.  Once you use this tool to screen all your students you will be left with a handful of trends across the groups.  You can then weave these skills into your daily practice and record improvements.