The NCB (National Children's Bureau) website has some brilliant free resources for parents, carers and practitioners available for download.
One is the Early Years Development Journal.
"The new Early Years Developmental Journal is designed for families, practitioners and others to use as a way of recording, celebrating and supporting children's progress. It is also for people who would like to find out more about children's development in the early years. It supports key working by helping everyone involved with a child to share what they know and discuss how best to work together to support development and learning.
This Journal is particularly useful if you know or suspect that your child or a child who you are helping is unlikely to progress in the same way or at the same rate as other children - whether or not a particular factor or learning difficulty has been identified and given a name."
Before you start to use the Journal, you should first read the 'How to Use' guide, which you can also download.
There are also specific journals for children who are deaf, visually impaired or have Down's Syndrome on the same page.
Debs says:
"I was introduced to the Developmental Journal for children with a visual impairment by one of our Consultants. I was asking how my son's development compared to other children with VI because I didn't think it was fair to be comparing his development to a sighted child. Thankfully, our Consultant was Alison Salt (Consultant Paediatrician - Neurodisability) who was one of the people involved in helping to develop the journal for VI children.
The journal became our bible and it went everywhere with me. We took it to assessments with Alison Salt, his VI play specialist used it to set targets, we used it with his nursery - it was invaluable as it meant we were all working together with the same information. We were able to see what my son was able to do, what gaps there were in his development and within the journal for children with VI there are also suggestions on activities.
As a mum of a child with visual impairment, I found it really difficult at the beginning to think outside the box - so many ideas for helping a child to develop are vision based. Look at the majority of children toys, most of them have buttons that light up to tell you that you chose the right option.
The developmental journal was so useful, it gave us ideas, a true assessment, a mutual reference for all involved and more importantly, it gave us hope. I really cannot recommend this Developmental Journal enough. It made me informed and therefore I felt like an equal partner."
There is so much more on the NCB website from information, training and support, Why not bookmark the NCB website to explore as and when you have the time?
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
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