| SKILL | WHAT TO DO Identifying and supporting need | ASKING FOR HELP Starting Assess, Plan, Do, Review | WHEN MORE HELP IS NEEDED Targeted support |
| Thinking skills | Classroom/Early Years room: Staff awareness of typical developmental patterns for children, to establish realistic expectations, set goals and identify difficulties. Thorough understanding of age-related expectations for all areas of development. Refer to Development Matters. Training to develop an understanding of play development and the importance of play for developing cognitive and learning skills. To help develop an understanding of their environment and the world: Give babies and small children opportunities to look in mirrors and play with objects that offer different sensory experiences. Play hide and seek games where children are required to find toys. Play people games (i.e., physical games without any toys, for example, tickling and chasing). Provide different objects and places to explore, both indoor and outdoor (e.g. jumping in puddles, running up and down little hills, playing with pots, pans, spoons, paper etc.). Provide activities to develop early learning and cognitive skills, including verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills. These may include: Attending to relevant cues (looking at a speaker or attending to the source of a sound, looking at target objects or pictures in books). Cause and effect (hypothetical) reasoning (e.g. games with anticipation of responses such as Round and Round the Garden; cause and effect toys). Comparison (identifying which item is bigger/smaller, heavier/lighter, longer/shorter etc.). Categorisation (grouping items by given categories such as colour, size or shape). Correspondence (assigning number names to objects; sharing things between two or more people). Focused perception (looking and listening carefully to visual, verbal, physical cues or items). Conservation of constancy (understanding that some things stay the same whilst others change e.g. changing the layout of a group of items but keeping the same number, pouring liquid or sand between containers). Identifying defining criteria (identification of an object based on colour, size, shape etc.; matching objects to their function). Labelling (using labelling words and concepts to describe objects e.g. colour, heavy/light, big/small, naming things about an object, pointing to or naming specific items on request). Pattern recognition/seriation (recognising and continuing patterns of colours or shapes; lining up sticks in order of height). Planning behaviour (developing capacity to plan actions and not act impulsively e.g. gathering equipment in advance of an activity; planning how all items will fit into a box; testing out ideas; trial and error reasoning). Relating past to present experiences (demonstrating that past events have influenced present behaviour e.g. knowing how previously shown toys work, re-enacting familiar actions or situations in role-play area). Role taking (The Theory of Mind) taking on another ‘role’ and acting as that person or thing would (e.g. different roles in role play; moving like a specific animal). Self-regulation (physical and behavioural) ability to control impulses (e.g. stopping or starting something when needed; delaying gratification; attending – may be seen through sharing, turn taking, moving on if something isn’t available, persevering if something is difficult). Sequencing (sequencing letters, number cards, ladybirds with dots on their backs; sequencing routines using picture cards). Systematic searching (looking through a set of items to find a specific one or the next one needed e.g. stacking cups by size; looking through pictures to find the odd one out; shape sorting). Using several sources of information (combine and understand different sources of sensory information, e.g. “Look at the teddy and point to his hat”). Whole school/Early Years setting: Use of resources from Go To Grow Tameside. | Targeted small group support and interventions to develop skills for learning, such as sustained, focused and joint attention. Play opportunities in small groups that include good peer role models. Differentiation of the adult’s role in supporting and facilitating play. Develop understanding of what child-led play involves depending on the group and activity being undertaken, e.g.: Modelling skills and feelings. Observing play. Providing resources. Mediating learning (see below). Physically positioning an adult nearby. Allowing a balance of child-led and free play, as well as adult-directed tasks. Questioning and making suggestions. Joining in when needed or invited. Being a ‘play partner’ rather than controlling the play. Supporting and extending child-led play. Consider which forms of adult mediation are most appropriate or useful for some children: Helping the child feel at ease (building rapport, using familiar and enjoyable activities). Focusing the child on the task (e.g. using visual and verbal prompts, moving things into their line of sight). Using ‘hand over hand’ guidance. Modelling how to do the activity first. Mediating meaning by focusing the child on relevant features of the task (e.g. feeling objects, demonstrating use, pointing to buttons or switches). Focusing the child on the adult’s role and involvement (turn-taking, modelling, demonstrate trying and failing and asking for the child’s help). Assisting generalisation of the skill (e.g. show the child how to use a toy in a different way, or different toys in the same way). Helping the child to plan (e.g. making tasks visually clearer by reducing the number of items in front of the child, providing non-verbal demonstration, talking through what to do next). Helping the child to break down tasks through modelling and demonstration (do one-step at a time and encourage child to copy); teach the sequences of pretend play. Helping the child to feel successful (using verbal and non-verbal praise, encouragement and tangible rewards). Helping the child feel that they’ve made progress (providing task-specific praise; stating what they can do at the end that they couldn’t at the start). Increased use of play-based assessment for children who may require more fine-grained assessment of their skills, or who may not fit easily into Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) tracker (e.g. those with language difficulties). | Further adaptation of the adult role in play and learning and the form(s) of mediation needed: Children in this group may need more frequent and higher levels of mediation (e.g. ‘hand over hand’ guidance). Increased sensory play activities for children with more complex needs. Training in enabling environments covering staff roles/engagement, roles and deployment throughout the day. Adaptation of play resources and environments to meet complex needs e.g.: Physical needs Visual impairment Hearing impairment support from specialist services may be required (see Sensory and/or Physical Needs section) Implement appropriate play interventions for children with specific individual needs (e.g. Play Bank or Identiplay). Use individualised Play Plans and or Engagement Profile and Scale to address specific skills identified through assessment. Provide time and space for targeted support on a consistent basis e.g. access to a smaller space to complete interventions, increased staff to child ratios for times when intensive support and interventions are being delivered. Use the Assess-Plan-Do-Review process to monitor the child’s progress, alongside any external agencies’ advice, whilst collating evidence of the impact of the strategies being used. Please refer to the Best Practice Walkthrough document. Where the child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), refer to described outcomes and provision and implement. Continue to use the Assess-Plan-Do-Review process against the specified outcomes and provision. Regularly update with strategies as they are tried. Complete Annual Review of EHCP. Please refer to the Best Practice Walkthrough document. |