Episode 10 | Supporting Big Changes with Richard Knight & Julie Pearson
Jun 20, 2024
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Richard Knight, a representative from the Early Years Alliance, and Julie Pearson, an advocate for helping children through significant changes, dive into the challenges children face during transitions. They discuss making these changes exciting by using positive language and familiar transitional objects, like cuddly toys. The duo emphasizes the importance of building trustful relationships between parents and educators. They also explore how to navigate emotional responses, using visuals and digital tools to ease anxiety for families and children.
Creating a supportive transition involves using familiar objects and visuals to ease children's anxiety about new environments.
Establishing strong communication with parents is essential for understanding children's emotional needs during significant life changes.
Deep dives
Understanding Major Transitions in Early Years
Transitioning from one educational setting to another, such as moving schools or changing rooms within a preschool, is significant for children. These transitions are often preceded by smaller changes, and many families might not realize how such adjustments can affect children's emotional well-being. For instance, the introduction of a new sibling can create a sense of insecurity for older children as they adjust to sharing attention and space. Acknowledging these larger changes helps practitioners understand that children might carry the stress from these transitions into their learning environment.
Building Trust and Communication with Families
Establishing good communication with parents is essential to support children during transitions, as parents might shy away from sharing vital information about their child's emotional state. Practitioners need to foster a trusting environment where families feel comfortable discussing personal challenges, like separation or bereavement, which could impact the child's behavior. It is important to ensure that both parents and practitioners engage in concise, meaningful exchanges about the child's needs, creating a partnership that benefits everyone involved. Such relationships enable educators to understand contextual factors affecting a child's adjustment, leading to more empathetic support.
Creating Familiarity to Ease Anxiety
To help children manage the anxiety associated with transitions, familiarity can be cultivated through various methods, like sharing visual resources about new environments or routines. For example, transitional objects like an explorer bear can help children feel more comfortable by making the new space less intimidating. Additionally, using technology to create videos that showcase teachers, classrooms, and daily activities can provide children with a sense of predictability about their upcoming experiences. Understanding and preparing for children’s emotional responses is crucial, as it allows educators to support them through each transition more effectively.
Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined once again by Julie Pearson and Richard Knight from the Early Years Alliance. In this episode, they cover some of the bigger changes children tend to experience, and what practitioners can do to support them through these.
They emphasise the importance of making transitions exciting, whether that’s through using the right language, or making a new space as unthreatening and attractive as you can. They discuss using transitional objects to help too, such as a cuddly toy, and using digital recordings and visuals so a child knows what to expect.
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(The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)
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