How can we make healthy integrations possible for SEND learners?
Transitions continue to be a hot topic for many of us, feeling the buzzy-mix of hope and anticipation on behalf of our students and/or our children. As I try to be a steady touch-stone at home, watching my three children finding their footing towards each of their next destinations… they have a wobble, lose focus, dust off, get back on track… the thing I’m particularly mindful of is something beyond transition: Integration. That’s what I want for them once all of the transition-dust has settled. To belong.
How to build healthy integration practices so that learners and your team know they belong.
Much thought and care is invested in helping our learners step into their next destination and when done well, they can take that step with ownership and clarity, bringing quiet confidence and a welcome exhale. It’s a piece of work in itself and becoming part of that new place so that it sticks, they can stay and grow into it, is what our hopes and efforts are pinned to.
Identifying risk factors for some young people early on is vital. We’re talking/reading about the significance of spotting signs that some individuals may struggle to integrate after transition and prepare for that in advance, yet in practice it’s a complex piece of work. This is where Beyond Creative Education helps you to build those healthy integration practices.
As our young people look ahead to their next steps, it’s time for us as educators, parents, carers, cheerleaders, to help the people who help our learners to move into new places and settle in. We all have insights worth sharing.
Whether your learners are heading towards exams, further education, apprenticeships, first steps into school, moving schools or starting secondary, there are simple ways to make it a positive beginning and one where individuals have ownership of their learning journey. Parents and carers will likely be feeling apprehension as they help their child to prepare, and there are ways that as professionals we can make their work more likely to stick - through a combined effort. Sharing strategies at home as well as at school are a really valuable piece of co-work for supporting healthy integration.
To help young people to integrate at their next setting, BCE works to activate social skills, encourage participation in group activities, and creates a positive, warm and inclusive environment. Supporting learners to understand personal space, manage emotional regulation, and develop problem-solving skills whilst teaching communication through creativity are the foundations of our integration practice:
1. Developing Social Skills:
Personal Space:
Parent Talk also promotes teaching children about personal space and boundaries. At BCE we do this through practical creative activities such as drama, role play, yoga, crafts, music-making and team games. This provides opportunities to practice social skills in a low-pressure environment.
Emotional Skills:
We can help our learners to understand, express, and manage their emotions both at home and at school. This can be done through open conversations, role-playing, and identifying triggers for strong emotions (Child Mind Institute). In our workshops, BCE provides social scripts and starter sentences to lean on in real situations for all age groups (and not just our students).
Problem-Solving:
Encourage children to develop their problem-solving skills by guiding them through challenges and asking them to mind-map, explore, discuss and try-out solutions in a safe and non-judgemental space. Huge rolls of lining paper, still imaging or online animation templates are great for getting started.
People Skills:
Talk about what it means to be a helpful, kind, mindful person and practice relationship skills through role-playing and preparing for real-life interactions.
2. Developing an Inclusive Environment:
At BCE our inclusive practices are informed by research and proven strategies - the Education Endowment Foundation provides an ace toolkit for supporting school attendance. We also find the simplicity of Senploy’s inclusive culture piece useful for a quick check-in when we might be getting off-task. The points below inform BCE’s integration practices:
Find Common Ground:
Help learners identify shared interests and hobbies to foster connections and build relationships.
Multi-Sensory Learning:
Use a practical and creative curriculum that incorporates multi-sensory teaching methods to cater to different learning styles.
Open Communication:
Maintain open and regular communication with staff, parents, carers and partners to create a supportive environment.
Name Recognition:
Address young people by their names, always ensuring they feel included, seen and valued.
Inclusive Curriculum:
Incorporate diverse materials and workshops that reflect different backgrounds and experiences, validating students' identities.
Visual Supports:
Use visual aids in creative ways to reinforce instructions, affirmations or expectations and help students understand routines.
Peer Support:
Help learners build trust and positive relationships through peer mentoring, group leadership, and responsibility teams.
Positive Reinforcement:
Focus on celebrating strengths or milestones and encouraging positive behaviours by marking them when observed and modelling them as a learning community.
Extracurricular Activities:
Extend inclusion and successful integration beyond the studio by encouraging participation in extracurricular activities and making a range of groups accessible and student interest focused - make students not want to miss out.
It doesn’t end here - BCE is an independent alternative provision committed to helping young people get back to loving learning and knowing that they belong. We do this in a wealth of ways and the key to our operation is being the healthy practice which threads through your healthy practice - be that at school, at home or in the community.
Get in touch to find out about our enhanced transition packages, activities week offer, moving-on summer workshops and employee assistance course (because it’s not just the learners who benefit from integration support). We’re here to help make the places where your learners and your staff want to be and know that they belong, and will be glad to assist.
