A Guide to SEND in the Early Years

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Praise for A Guide to SEND in the Early Years ‘A Guide to SEND in the Early Years is a must-read for all working across the EYFS, whether directly or indirectly. Informed, practical, down to earth and thought provoking.’

Dr Sue Allingham, independent Early Years consultant, @DrSue22 ‘This book offers a uniquely honest, actually useful, critical yet relatable toolkit for Early Years educators who remain committed to taking care of and educating all babies and young children in our current educational system.’

David Cahn, Early Years teacher and carer, and author, @DavidN_Cahn ‘A Guide to SEND in the Early Years is a book that highlights the importance of a child-centred approach and being in tune with the children in your care. It highlights the importance of training and dispelling urban myths about supporting SEND. A Guide to SEND in the Early Years shatters outdated views on SEND that may incite labelling. Kerry has skilfully collated case studies and a plethora of contributions, from parents, Early Years educators and specialists promoting advocacy, agency and activism. This book gives a view of supporting SEND not only from a policy-driven perspective but from a trained, experienced and neurodiverse one.’

Jamel Carly Campbell, Early Years SEND specialist and Men in the Early Years Ambassador, @JamelCarly ‘A book of real integrity, a celebration of uniqueness, championing the rights of children with SEND and their families. A game changer, which will reframe thinking and perspectives; from difficulties to differences, problems to possibilities, with tangible strategies to impact practice and ultimately, the lives of children. An essential read for practitioners and parents alike.’

Sarah Doyle, Early Years and SEND advisor, and proud parent to an autistic boy ‘A clear, helpful and refreshingly honest book which explains SEND from top to bottom. I would highly recommend this book to anyone trying to navigate SEND in the UK.’ Kim Griffin, Occupational Therapist, GriffinOT, @Griffin_OT

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‘An accurate synopsis of the dedication and practice of the Early Years workforce to support children and families with SEND despite the barriers and limitations of current government policies.’

Maria Goncalves, London Early Years Foundation SEND Manager ‘This is a book that every educator needs to read. It will transform how we think about SEND! Kerry Murphy’s words will be music to the ears of professionals and parents. We need this book in every school.’

Dr Gavin Reid, independent educational psychologist, @drgavinreid



‘Kerry invites us to consider a child-centred, rights-based and celebratory view of special needs, with intelligent, engaging writing, passion, vulnerability, challenge and a focus on practical application. A must-read.’

David Wright, owner of Paint Pots Nursery, @Mr_PaintPots

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A Guide to SEND in the Early Years

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A Guide to SEND in the Early Years Kerry Murphy

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FEATHERSTONE Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, FEATHERSTONE and the Feather logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain, 2022 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Text copyright © Kerry Murphy, 2022 Kerry Murphy has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes Material from Department for Education documents used in this publication are approved under an Open Government Licence: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-8101-1; ePDF: 978-1-4729-8091-5; ePub: 978-1-4729-8092-2 Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters

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For Olivia & June x

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Acknowledgements Firstly, this book would not have been possible without the many experiences I have had with the children and families I have worked with throughout my career. Olivia, Daniel and Hermione will have no idea of their impact. The Early Years team I worked with in local authority provided a safe and brave space to challenge, debate and expand my understanding of SEND and always held me accountable, so thank you Shelley, Lizzie, Samira, Sarah, Alice and June. Without their endless encouragement and belief, I would not have gotten to do half the things that I dared ask to do – they are literally the best team that I have ever worked with. Thank you to the nurseries and practitioners who were always open to finding solutions amidst many challenges, including Dalia, an amazing nursery manager who let me test out all my ideas at her nursery.

I also have to acknowledge my husband, Nick, and my two dogs, who were never far from my feet as I typed away. The proofreading, sounding board and putting up with my ideas late into the night were much appreciated. My mum and sister, Hayley, also spotted my skills as a SENDCo way before I did and helped me to find my place in the Early Years.

And thank you to all the contributors to this book: the willing parents, specialists and practitioners who shared their stories, advice and guidance, including: Sarah Doyle Liz Pemberton David Cahn Fifi Benham Dalia Hamid Emma Davis James Tunnell Rosie Davies Kate Moxley Melissa Blignaut Lianna Wilding Please note that some of the contributors wished to remain anonymous.

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Contents Author’s note xii Introduction 1 1 ‘I think he has autism’: Developing a rights- and strengths-based approach to inclusion 5 2 ‘We must, we should and we can’: Understanding and implementing key SEND policies and procedures 31 3 ‘Oh, that’s the SENDCo’s job’: Understanding whole-team approaches to SEND inclusion 59 4 ‘I should only have to voice it once’: Understanding helpful and harmful approaches in parent partnership 85 5 ‘He will grow out of it’: Understanding SEND support and the graduated approach 107 6 ‘There’s just too much paperwork’: Developing a celebratory framework for SEND children 131 7 ‘All he does is line things up’: Keeping play at the heart of early intervention 169 8 ‘How is she going to cope without me?’: Developing wellbeing for all during transitions 187 Conclusion: Where do we go from here? 207 Companion resources 213 References 215 Index 224

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Author’s note While this book has special educational needs and disability (SEND) in the title, there is an increasing dialogue that the term SEN is becoming outdated. Many people with developmental differences and disabilities believe that defining children as ‘special needs’ further perpetuates stereotyping, labeling and exclusion through a process known as ‘othering’. I have used the term SEN because it is one which is known and used nationally to describe children who learn differently. Professionally, I believe that all children have needs, and our role is to meet them in the best way we can, and so while SEN is used, I fully agree that it is a term that has an expiration date.

In addition, the 0-25 SEND code of practice (DfE, 2015) predominately refers to SEN support. For inclusion of all children, I tend to use SEND support because many settings will be supporting children with a range of disabilities also.

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Introduction ‘Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. You need one because you are human.’

(Jane Howard, 1998, as cited in Murthy, 2020, pg. 53) I first read the above quote in Vivek Murthy’s book, Together: Loneliness, Health and What Happens When We Find Connection (2020). It resonated with me because togetherness and connection are at the heart of inclusion. I decided to write this book because I wanted to demonstrate how our togetherness can have the most significant influence on children, and so it is not just a book for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinators (SENDCos) but is for anyone who is invested in advocating the rights of all children. Much of what I hear about inclusion comes from the higher echelons. Still, it is the work of inclusion from the ground up where most of our lessons can be learned. Being on the ‘shop floor’ as an Early Years practitioner can often feel like being thrown into the deep end of a pool while you are still learning how to swim. The things that you pick up on the job are invaluable, yet we can still feel very much out of our depth. There is no denying that inclusion in practice is complex, challenging and, at times, very frustrating. We are often the ones standing side by side with a child and their family at the beginning of a significant journey. We are the ones navigating the trickiest of systems and conversations.

We are the ones who show up every day, still curious and eager to do better. While this book acknowledges the challenges and the ways in which we don’t get it right, it also recognises that we always give it a good go. This is often without consistent support, encouragement or access to training.

You have to be a somewhat optimistic human when working in the Early Years sector because it can take an emotional and physical toll. I intentionally start with a bit of doom and gloom because I do not want you as the reader to think that I am not acutely aware of the challenges. However, this is not a book that aims to tell you everything that is wrong with you or the sector, followed by a bullet-point list of solutions (although there is some of that). I aim to unpick the things that you are likely already doing and to think about how we can realistically build on the wealth of good practice to become even better.

Most of the things that I have come to know as a specialist have come from unwavering Early Years practitioners, who dedicate so much time to providing the right support. This is a space for me to share all the practical knowledge that I have collated and picked up along the way.

But before we dive into the book, I would like to dispel a couple of ‘SENDisms’ – those typical clichés that we hear when we are already under a great deal of pressure and which can sometimes feel unhelpful.

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‘Smooth running’ I would like to note that inclusion is not a ‘smooth running’ process. It is messy, complicated and, at times, disorientating. Still, it is also a rewarding, joyous and crucial part of our everyday work. It should be easier than it is, but it is not always on us to carry the weight of the things that are not going to plan. Think of inclusion as taking ‘snakes and ladders’ movements rather than straightforward steps. Sometimes we breeze through, and at other times we have to work harder and climb our way around.

‘Every teacher is a teacher of SEND’ This is quite controversial, but this is the dream in the Early Years, and not the current reality. We must challenge any policy-maker who thinks that this blanket statement helps our sector. How can we all be teachers of SEND if we haven’t had adequate support or training? Also, there are huge tensions around the concept of an Early Years practitioner being viewed as a teacher. While I believe it to be a fundamental principle of inclusion, it can feel tokenistic when we aren’t equipped to support SEND. I’m changing it: If you believe in children’s rights, this must include the rights of all children including those with SEND.

A Guide to SEND in the Early Years

The aim of early intervention is to ‘fix’ or cure a child’s SEND

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This book prescribes to a pro-neurodiversity approach, which means that I do not see SEND purely through the deficit lens of delays and impairments. While children may have difficulties, this only describes certain aspects of their development, and so we must understand their overall profile of strengths, interests, differences and needs. Some children will also be neurodivergent, meaning that they will have lifelong developmental differences. We need to understand these differences rather than focusing on ‘fixing’, correcting or training children to behave neurotypically.

The work of inclusion is ongoing and continuous, as we will see throughout the book. While we may not all be super skilled within SEND, we can all build on our current knowledge base and everyday practice. I often find that the biggest reluctance to engage in this specific area of inclusion is that it requires us to understand both the child and the SEND system. This simultaneous body of work on top of everything else that we are expected to do can be hard to navigate. However, over time, I have realised that we must not be flattened by the weight of the ‘rule books’ and systems that can often feel separate from our daily work. Instead, those ‘rule books’ have to work for us and be flexible enough

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to allow us to overcome the barriers to SEND & inclusion. I will venture into policy and procedure throughout this book, but merely to demonstrate how it can work for us – the child, family and setting.

At the heart of what I write is the importance of upholding the rights of the child. Many of you who have picked this book up will have done so because you have a child in mind.

The child whom you have sought to understand but fell short. The child who made you see things differently. The child who tested every fibre of your resilience. The child who made you beam with pride. The child who broke your heart, and the child who keeps you here today doing this role. And this brings me back to the original quote: we need each other.

The Early Years sector needs to recognise that our togetherness with each other, child and family, is the best form of advocacy that we can offer.

So, while I know that this book cannot change the world, I hope the practitioner who reads it knows that they can…

Introduction 3

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1 ‘I think he has autism’: Developing a rights- and strengths-based approach to inclusion Starting points Do you believe… … that every child has a right to belong? … that every child has a right to be loved and nurtured? … that every child has a right to education? … that the purpose of education is for children and young people to find out what they are good at? … that no child should be discriminated against on the basis of their disability, race, gender, ethnicity, culture or background?

Inclusion! What is it all about anyway?

It is likely that you automatically answered ‘yes’ to the questions in the box above. Why on earth would we answer otherwise? In truth, my own immediate reaction would be to answer ‘yes’, but if I stop and think for a moment, there is actually a lot to unpick in those above statements.

I can think of examples where my practice and my actions have contradicted those very rights.

I did not land in the Early Years sector as a pre-packaged and perfect practitioner, so I have often had to reflect that my practice has not always matched up to my well-meaning intentions.

Contrary to how it should be, we do not always normalise growth within our sector. Our bad bits, our weaknesses and our humanness are not always welcome. We are often told to leave our baggage at the door. But to be in active pursuit of an inclusive pedagogy, we must cultivate spaces in which we challenge and expand our ideas of what it means to be inclusive.

When I started to map out this chapter, I looked for a definition of inclusion. I felt disappointed by the lack of nuance or creativity in an incredibly important concept. Many of the descriptions felt almost tokenistic, too theoretical or quite narrow. I realised that inclusion cannot be neatly summed up because it’s undergoing constant change, and it is

A Guide to SEND in the Early Years

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as much about unlearning as it is about learning. For example, the first time I supported an autistic child was the first time that I had to challenge some of the stereotypes I had about autism, and I had to unlearn my ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset. I also had to learn to let go of my own preconceived judgements about ‘typical spectrum’ behaviours and venture more deeply into understanding the child.

I have learned that inclusion is driven by an openness to engage with complex, sometimes uncomfortable and not always straightforward situations. This requires a continuous ‘personal interrogation of our own views and prejudices around differences and difficulties’ (Nutbrown et al., 2013, pg. 3). Supporting children with SEND is not always easy. It can often throw up many challenging feelings, especially when we do not possess a deep understanding of the child’s unique development. We have all been in situations where we have felt ‘inconvenienced’ by a child with SEND, and then felt the dull thud of shame and guilt. I recall spending time setting up a fantastic activity and it immediately being ‘destroyed’ and bulldozed by a child. The way it looked seemed to be more important to me than how it was played with, so I placed the issue within the child, rather than consider that my rigid thinking and learning was interfering with the child’s style of play.

A helpful and more experienced colleague mentioned that I wouldn’t last very long in the field if my expectation was that all children should behave or be the same. She reminded me that my own experience of being taught wasn’t necessarily the best blueprint because it was likely rooted in principles of conformity and control, what I now often refer to as the ‘conveyor belt curriculum’. Our education system, at least within the Early Years, embraces a much more open and creative process nowadays, and one which acknowledges learning as personal to the child. Early on in my career as a practitioner, I was told to relinquish some of my outdated beliefs about what education is supposed to do and to let go of the need to control children. By being more flexible in my own thinking, I was able to learn to value individual children’s natural pace of learning. We might feel shame looking back on our previous selves, but it is an integral part of the learning process as practitioners.

We don’t just suddenly become inclusive, but instead, it is what we are always becoming (Nutbrown, 2013). Our deeply embedded views and behaviours take time to shift especially in a society that has not always valued developmental differences and disability. If we think of ourselves as the complete package within our professional roles, we are essentially communicating that we don’t really believe we still have room to grow. It always reminds me of the evaluations that I receive on training courses where, when asked what they have learned, a self-assured practitioner will write ‘confirmed what I already know and do’. There is almost a reluctance to acknowledge that new learning can occur.

Becoming a reflective practitioner All practitioners should be empowered to develop skills and knowledge within SEND and inclusion. There is still a tendency to view SEND support as separate or additional to the

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everyday role, so practitioners do not always feel equipped or skilled to support children and often lack confidence. When I was a local authority consultant, my work’s burden was that I was expected to be a critical eye, so I became a bit of a faultfinder and action-setter which quickly deterred practitioners from engaging with me. I picked up that a balance needed to be found between constructive and positive feedback especially if I wanted more honest and reflective discussions further down the line. To normalise growth, we need to allow practitioners time to reflect upon the different aspects of their practice and to come to terms with the more difficult experiences of the role. The work of an Early Years practitioner is emotionally complex, physically demanding and time-consuming, and so maintaining consistent high-quality practice can be difficult if these issues go unexplored. Most of our good practice is, if we are honest, born out of the trial and error of bad practice – for example, when I thought that shouting ‘Be quiet’ was the right way of commanding silence, or when I thought repeating a complicated sequence of instructions to a child with attention differences would work, rather than breaking those instructions down. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, ‘it is only when we know better, that we can do better’.

But when, as a team or as a childminder, do we get time to unpick these little moments so that we can do better? As a team or as a personal reflective activity, have a think about the following.

Activity: Inclusion process ●

List three strong features of your inclusive practice.

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List three things that you feel you do less well in inclusive practice.

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List three ways in which you would like to develop.

Look at the lists that you have just created. What changes could you realistically make in the short term, and what could you add as a long-term goal?

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The inclusion jigsaw

‘I think he has autism’

One of the most significant issues with Early Years and inclusion is that we are largely expected to be good at every aspect of the role. Dare I admit as a practitioner that I detest outdoor play when it’s raining, or that the ‘rinse and repeat’ routine of circle time often felt arduous? If I want to teach children about the weather, surely, I get them to go outside rather than look at a picture of the sun? (Except when it is raining!)

If you compare the above reflections with your colleagues or within your networks, the answers are likely to differ significantly but together create a jigsaw of good and developing practice.

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