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Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities framework:

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Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities framework:

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Essential for all

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Education Scotland is a Scottish Government executive agency responsible for supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education.

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Sensory Processing with Karen Watson - Live TeachMeet Recording

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Welcoming Every Student with Comfort and Care Creating a welcoming classroom environment starts with how students are greeted each day. In fact, classroom

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Sensory considerations within St Pauls secondary school

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Sensory considerations within St Pauls secondary school

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what gets labelled as behaviour but isn't

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what gets labelled as behaviour but isn't

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What gets labelled ‘behaviour’ that isn't

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Too Much Information and Us | Sensory Overloads

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Researchers intentionally set out to discover whether classroom displays affected children's ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content. "Young children spend a lot of time - usually the whole day - in the same classroom, and through this research we have shown that a classroom's visual environment can affect how much children learn,"

It was found, according to psychology researchers of Carnegie Mellon University, that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task and demonstrated smaller learning gains than when the decorations were removed.

For the study, 24 kindergarten students were placed in laboratory classrooms for six introductory science lessons on topics they were unfamiliar with. Three lessons were taught in a heavily decorated classroom, and three lessons were given in a sparse classroom. The results showed that while children learned in both classroom types, they learned more when the room was not heavily decorated.

So.. should teachers take down their visual displays based on the findings of this study?

"We do not suggest by any means that this is the answer to all educational problems. Furthermore, additional research is needed to know what effect the classroom visual environment has on children's attention and learning in real classrooms," Fisher said. "Therefore, I would suggest that instead of removing all decorations, teachers should consider whether some of their visual displays may be distracting to young children."

"We were also interested in finding out if the visual displays were removed, whether the children's attention would shift to another distraction, such as talking to their peers, and if the total amount of time they were distracted would remain the same," However, when the researchers tallied all of the time children spent off-task in both types of classrooms, the rate of off-task behavior was higher in the decorated classroom (38.6% time spent off-task) than in the sparse classroom (28.4% time spent off-task).

At Natural Pod we really value this research as our company was born from the idea that all children should have access to natural, healthy, sustainable learning environments that are calm, welcoming, beautiful and inspiring. We are committed to creating spaces and furniture that foster creativity and innovation, where students and educators feel valved and can thrive.

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Heavily Decorated Classrooms Disrupt Learning

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Researchers intentionally set out to discover whether classroom displays affected children's ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content.

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Listen, the parental exhaustion is real. I know this. AND, simultaneously, the children need to be in constant motion, like, 22 hours out of the day. I also know this. Meeting opposing sensory needs is [...]

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Is it sensory, or is it behavior?, The Occuplaytional Therapist

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I had the opportunity to speak to a group at one of the schools where I work on the topic of discerning whether kids' "behavior" could be motivated by sensory processing, or whether it's just "acting out".

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supporting learners within the ELC - sensory toolkit

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supporting learners within the ELC - sensory toolkit

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learning disabilities

Challenging Behaviour in Young People with a Learning Disability

Challenging behaviour is any behaviour that someone displays that is a challenge for others to manage and/or puts the young person or others at risk. Lots of young people with learning disabilities have behaviours that challenge.

There are lots of different types of challenging behaviour and behaviours that one person finds challenging another person may not.
Examples of common challenging behaviour:

Aggression (e.g. hitting, kicking, biting)

Self-injurious behaviour (e.g. head banging, biting self, hitting self)

Shouting/swearing

Sexualised behaviour in public

Throwing items/breaking things

Soiling/smearing

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) can be a useful framework for thinking about challenging behaviour. It is a person-centered approach which has been recommended for people with LD. It is based on the principle that 'All behaviour happens for a reason' and we need to find the reasons or 'functions' for each individual in order to reduce that behaviour.

There are a number of common possible 'functions' or reason that young people create in a challenging way:

Social attention- to get noticed or acknowledged by others

Escape/avoidance - to get away from a situation or task the person finds difficult

Tangible - to get something they want (e.g. food, activities, etc.)

Sensory - because it feels good

Communication - to express their emotions to others

Pain/feeling unwell - to let other know about it or to manage their discomfort.

This list is not exhaustive and there could be many other reasons that a young person may behave in a challenging way. There may be also be lots of different reasons or functions for each individual, which can change over time.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Could they have difficult expressing their frustration? Do they need help in labeling their emotions?

Might they be unclear about what is happening and need to be given some clear, visual timelines of what is happening?

Think about their sensory needs. Is the environment too noisy? Is it too high pitched? Is it too bright? What touch are they experiencing? (some children prefer deep pressure as opposed to light touch).

It can be worth thinking through all of these questions to consider where any problems may be. Usually, several of these issues need to be addressed in order to reduce challenging behaviour.

As a first step in understanding challenging behaviour, it can be useful to keep a record of where and when behaviours occur, as well as a note of what happened before and after, paying particular attention to the environment. This might help identify the triggers and functions of the behaviour (what keeps it going).

From there, we can prevent difficulties happening in the following ways:Altering the environments to better fit a young person's needs

Developing the young person's coping strategies and everyday life skills

Developing and supporting communication (both receptive and expressive skills)

And increasing the young person's quality of life generally

A 'Positive Behavior Support Plan' is always a good place to start. In this, you can select two or three key areas to work on - or just one areas at a time. Positive Behaviour Support Plans will often focus on the following areas:

Routine & structure: We know that having routine and structure in place helps children to understand what is going on around them and to feel safe. Giving them a visual timeline or 'Now and Next board' can help with this.

Communication: Try using signs, pictures or symbols to support them to understand what is expected of them and/or to communicate their needs to others.

Demands: Make sure that that the things we are asking a child to do meets their individual needs. They will be more stressed if they are overwhelmed by a task, or indeed if they are under-stimulated by certain activities.

Quality of Life: Sometimes children with behaviour that challenges miss out on activities and interactions that make them feel good about themselves e.g. accessing community activities, playing, interacting with their peers or going out. Make sure there are plenty of these opportunities available to them where possible.

Physical Environment: Sometimes young people with LD are more sensitive to the physical environment than other children, this might mean thinking about noise levels, lights, sounds or smells.

Sleep, pain, health: as many young people with LD struggle to communicate to others about their needs, they may have difficulties that have not been picked up on before such as being tired, in pain or uncomfortable in some way. Check in with them regularly and think about discomfort.

CONSIDER SEEKING HELP:
Please talk to your Paediatrician, Social Worker, or School about a referral to the LD-CAMHS team.

TheNational Autistic Society provides information and support for people with Autism and their families and for professionals. They are a very active organisation and offer some really useful information about strategies and approaches for supporting people with Autism.
Website

The British Institute of Learning Disabilities also have some useful information and further advice about a variety of common issues.
Website

Local Offer is a Derbyshire-specific site which allows you to search for lots of different services, including parenting support groups, in the local area.
Website

Positive Behaviour Support helpline
Bild is offering a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) helpline to support families and carers of people with learning disabilities, mental health issues or autistic people with the challenges of living with COVID-19 restrictions.

Families and carers can book a call with a PBS consultant to discuss how you are doing, to gain reassurance that you are doing the right thing, or you might want to talk through some ideas and get some practical suggestions.

Select a day and time you would like to receive a call, alongside providing some brief contact details and a brief description of the issue or how you would like support.

There is no structure to the phone call; it is purely a chance to talk to someone who is experienced and who can offer support and guidance.

Please click here to be taken to the information page where there is a further link to book a call.

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Challenging behaviour is any behaviour that someone displays that is a challenge for others to manage and puts the young person or others at risk. Lots of young people with learning disabilities have behaviours that challenge.

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Brain Highways: The Proprioceptive System

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Connect NHS - Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire

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Interoception is our sense that helps us to understand what is going on inside our bodies such as feeling hungry, thirsty, or needing the toilet. For some people this sense might not work as well, making it hard to notice these feelings. Download Resource

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Interoception and toilet training

There is evidence that some children learn to recognise their body signals of a full bladder and bowel after they learn to use the potty and toilet and have developed a toileting routine.

Current thinking suggests that it is not necessary to wait until children show signs that they recognise they are weeing or pooing, but that a regular toileting routine can help them learn to use a toilet or potty and the awareness of their body sensation can sometimes be understood and responded to afterwards.

We can't know exactly what a child is feeling, but we can understand a great deal by watching their behaviour and responses.

If children understand and notice how their body feels they can then begin to respond to their physical needs, including learning toileting skills.

How does Interoception work?

We all have sensory receptors in all our internal organs and muscles. These respond to sensations experienced and create a stimulus that is transmitted along the nerve fibres to the brain. There it connects with other sensations, memory and knowledge and the brain make sense of these messages.

In this way we learn how our body feels and it helps us to know when we are tired, excited, hungry, and need the toilet. This can connect to parts of the brain that make decisions and stimulate our body to respond.

Interoception and toilet training tips:

Understanding messages from their body helps children with toilet training. Learning how to link the signals from their bodies with their bowel and bladder actions can be really helpful for them.

Here are some tips for including this as part of your child's learning process to get clean and dry:

Teach your child how their body makes wee and poo and how it tells them when it needs to come out.

Instead of asking if they want to go to the toilet, ask if they can feel any wee or poo that wants to go in the toilet? This will help them make sense of the messages they are receiving.

Pictures and videos on how the body works and the bowel and bladder are fun and make sense of why we use the toilet.

Include body awareness to help children understand the messages from their bowel and bladder
Identify if children are having difficulty learning Interoception messages and take this into account. A sensory assessment may be helpful.

Interoception and constipation

Constipation is very common in children. It can be uncomfortable and is often painful.

Children's awareness of these sensations often can make them afraid of pooing. This can cause children to withhold their poo to avoid the discomfort and the frightening sensations. This makes the constipation worse.

It is important to treat the constipation effectively, but we also need to understand how a child is feeling and interpreting the messages from their intestine and body.

We need to evaluate and respond to their feelings and anxieties. We need to address the constipation, and at the same time include strategies to help with their understanding of body sensations and help the anxiety linked these feelings.

Emotional understanding and Interoception

Emotions such as anxiety and excitement can stimulate the functioning of internal organs, and this is linked to hormonal effects caused by adrenaline.

Our body sensations are very closely linked to our feelings and emotions. Anxiety causes a rapid heart rate, and increased shallow breathing, as well as sometimes affecting digestion.

Many of our body's reactions help people to notice and understand emotions including feelings of tension and relaxation.

These feelings can sometimes be confusing and worrying and can sometimes be linked to difficulties with control of the bowel and bladder.

There is increasing understanding about the complex interaction of body signals, emotions and learning in children.

It is important to understand the impact of internal sensations on children's toilet training and take these into consideration to tailor programmes to meet their specific needs.

We are also learning more about this and this will be helpful for children and families in future.

Children with autism

Autistic children with sensory difficulties may have more difficulty in understanding and noticing their body signals. It can take them longer to make sense of what they mean. If this is not appreciated it can be mistaken for laziness or lack of co-operation.

These children may need more help and prompts to achieve a reliable awareness of toileting needs and become clean and dry.

They do usually achieve this, but it may be more difficult and they often need more support.

How to help children understand their sensations

Identify and understand how a child is feeling and responding

Talk to children and help them understand how their body is feeling.

Help them understand how their body works, videos, pictures and stories can help

Help them to understand the difference between the feelings of normal bowel activity, discomfort and pain

Explore the size of pain and discomfort, with showing with their hands the size; score out of 10-; a bit, a lot, loads, huge.

If children are having difficulty noticing and understanding their body sensations:

Link body feelings to routines and other activities, e.g. we sit on the toilet before football, or play time.

Use other cues reminders and prompts e.g. picture cues alarms, vibrating watches

Reward effort as much as success

Older children and teenagers

Body awareness can cause problem for older children. It is never too late to help children tune into their body sensations.

Ways to do this include:

Talking to your child and helping them practice noticing how their body is feeling.

Some children enjoy the 'be a scientist' approach to keep a record of their wee and poo and their sensations, which may help their understanding.

Help may be needed for some such as with timers or visual cues, and reminders linked to day time routines.

Body awareness signals may be more difficult to notice as social and educational demands increase as young people grow older. Increased internal body signals can also occur with anxiety, especially about toilets and be linked to holding in the wee and poo, or sometimes going to the toilet more often. Understanding this can be helpful to work out solutions.

Research has found that children don't receive as many sensations from neurological receptor stimuli in the brain when they are absorbed in activities, such as when playing on computer games.

This may be linked to the body awareness sensations being more subtle. Sensations from inside our bodies may not be as intense as other sensations and may be more difficult to notice.

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Interoception is our eighth sense which responds to signals and sensations from inside our bodies. It interprets the signals such as the feeling that the bladder is full, and when we need to poo.

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The Emotion Works programme and organisation is a longstanding resource in Scottish Education supporting schools, nurseries and specialist services to deliver high quality and impactful Social Emotional Learning for all.

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ASN TRAINING: SEVERE & COMPLEX NEEDS – Emotion Works

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In line with the NAIT Professional Learning Framework below, we are in the process of developing a national autism training resource for schools and early years establishments. The resources below can support current professional learning for staff working in schools.