Finding creative ways of working with children who struggle to come to school or be in the classroom environment, including those who have experienced trauma or disruption in their lives.
When mentoring children who are displaying dysregulated or avoidant behaviour, it’s important to look beyond the behaviours and attempt to recognise what the child is communicating through the behaviour. Often this will involve trial and error as each child is an individual and will respond to different approaches. To provide support when the classroom has become ‘tricky’ building a relationship, creating a safe environment, meeting the child where they are at and predictability are key areas for engagement.
It can be difficult to know or predict what may trigger a child to dysregulate, and spending time with staff understanding what has worked and finding out about any ‘special interests’ can help prepare for initial sessions. A consistent room space that is welcoming, with objects or resources that provide variety and interest can be helpful during early stages of relationship building. Finding ways to support the child to feel safe and listened too is a priority, and this can mean being aware of your own body language with an emphasis on being calm in your approach as children will mirror adult behaviour.
Using playful interactions can initiate engagement as part of the ‘PACE’ approach (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy), helping to reduce anxiety, particularly performance-based anxiety. Hide and seek games with objects or containers hiding challenges or clues can be particularly engaging with primary aged children, adjusting the contents provides differentiation according to developmental stage as opposed to age. The containers or envelopes can be hidden within an agreed safe area and linked to a topic of interest or area you are working on i.e. transition. If a child has been on holiday, create open questions linked to their experiences or, if using an outside space or hall, physical challenges such as running, jumping and balancing game can support regulation.
Once a child has shown some engagement or feels more at ease with an activity that has worked well, role reversal can help extend this activity using reciprocity to build self-esteem. Some children can enjoy being the leader as it gives them a sense of control within agreed boundaries (kept as simple as possible). Encouraging a child to build upon an activity by adding their own ideas will again support the development of trust in the relationship. Being vigilant to changes in the child’s facial expressions, mood or level of interest can enable the mentor to prepare to divert the child onto another activity where possible.
When a child leaves a space with a pre-prepared activity bag containing further resources that are suitable for outside use it can support a transition when a child is struggling, as opposed to the temptation to just chase a child around the school. Feeding back to school/class teacher and parent or carer what has worked, recognising any positive engagement or small shifts in behaviour, are opportunities for encouragement and praise. Recognising these small shifts are vital in understanding when a child is taking risks in building relationships and beginning to trust the environment they are in once again. Every session provides a fresh start, reinforcing repair and modelling positive relationships.
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