Please click on the link below to get an update on ‘Working through lockdown’ as a member of the Psychological Service in Highland.
Service newsletter
Blog posts
Updated EASEYS!
Over the last few months we have been reviewing the EASEYS for ASN linking them to Realising the Ambition and this years INSET training materials to reflect current thinking and key messages in Early Years.
8 EASEYS have now been updated so if you have previously downloaded these documents please check for the new version. These are the updated ones dated either March or April 2020 in the footer:
- Communication with Home
- Feelings in Me, Feelings in You
- Gathering the Young Child’s Views
- Intensive Interaction
- Meeting Additional Support Needs
- Towards Self-Regulation
- Quiet Time
- Supporting Learning at Home for Early Years ASN
Play Ideas
We have a new tab on the Blog which some of you may have already noticed and are accessing. The tab, ‘Play Ideas’, contains a selection of practical suggestions for developing play with additional support needs in mind. They may contain more sensory elements or have been broken down into smaller steps to help build up skills gradually.
The list of Play Ideas is being added to regularly so please ‘follow’ to get updates as they are added.
If there is any topic or activity you would like to see elaborated in this way please let us know via the ‘comments’.
Supporting learning at home for early years ASN
To help support learning at home for families of children with additional support needs, while their Early Learning and Childcare settings are closed, we have pulled together some ideas, activities and useful weblinks.
Not all of these may be relevant to you or your child but we hope you will find something helpful or something they like to support you through the days and weeks ahead.
Pre-school Home Visiting Teachers (PSHVT)
Please note that all PSHVTs are currently working from home, term-time. We are all contactable, as usual, by email or mobile phone (we are not able to access office phones and messages) and available for consultation. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
This Blog contains a selection of materials from the Highland Council Psychological Service. The PSHVT sections are targeted at Early Years: Additional Support Needs topics (EASEYS for ASN), Play Ideas and links to other good practice in ASN. Please explore the tabs above and ‘follow’ to get updates and new materials as they are published.
PSHVTs are contributing ideas to the Daily Tips being published on the Bumps2Bairns Blog. Please ‘follow’ Bumps2Bairns.
Highland’s core training materials
As part of the strategic plan for transforming and improving educational experiences and outcomes for children and young people in Highland, priority sessions of core training have been delivered this session for all staff on authority in-service days. The aim is to use these days as a starting point for wider discussion and development at a school level, with specialist services available to support the further implementation and embedding of skills as appropriate.
There are three training topics and all the materials needed related to the training are available on the following pages.
Promoting Positive Relationships
Gathering the young child’s views
More and more we are being encouraged to gather the views of young children with Additional Support Needs around their likes and dislikes, emotions and feelings, friendships and things that matter to them.
This document includes some tools and strategies which might help to ensure that we are gathering the child’s views and giving them a voice not only during the Highland Practice Model Process but thinking beyond the Child’s Plan.
See the EASEYS for ASN Gathering the young child’s views for a selection of ideas. Ensure to match the strategy you choose to the child’s strengths, interests and communication level.
New EASEYS for ASN on topic of Emotional Development
All too often we are asked for information and resources to help young children with their understanding of emotions. Hopefully, in EASEYS for ASN Feelings in me, feelings in you, you will find some advice and useful ideas for resources which best meet the needs of children in your setting.
The core features of emotional development explored are:
- to identify and understand ones own feelings
- to accuratley read and comprehend emotional states in others
- to manage strong emotions and their expression in a constructive manner
- to regulate one’s own behaviour
- to develop empathy for others
New EASEYS for ASN – Supporting Inclusion for ELC Expansion
Have you considered the impact of the expanded hours on children with Additional Support Needs (ASN)?
Some of the questions in this EASEYS for ASN could apply to all children in your setting but may have more of an impact for children with ASN. What might be a minor inconvenience for some could have a dramatic impact on others. Adjusting your environment and approaches could make all the difference…
New EASEYS for ASN on core support strategies
Another EASEYS for ASN for your collection on the topic of Support Strategies.
Hot off the Press! More EASEYS for ASN
Three new EASEYS added on these topics. Please share with colleagues.
Meeting Additional Support Needs
EASEYS for ASN Vertical Transitions
Highland Council Psychological Service 