Nursery World - Positive relationships: Behaviour, Part 1

Supporting children who cannot stay in control may be the ultimate challenge for conscientious practitioners, says Pat Gordon-Smith in the first of four articles on responding to behaviour.

Under the SEN Code of Practice, children with 'emotional and behavioural difficulties' have 'as equal an entitlement to positive, inclusive provision as any other' (Drifte 2008: 3). And so, this series aims to help practitioners to provide for that entitlement and to find success amid the challenges of supporting children whose actions make daily life difficult for themselves and for other people.

ETHOS

It might have been simpler to say that the series is about 'managing extreme behaviour', but while the phrase is sometimes used informally, it has long been avoided in the early years. It offers little expectation that children can contribute to solutions in difficult circumstances and, according to Lynn McNair, head of Cowgate Under-5s Centre in Edinburgh, it is loaded with unfortunate meanings.

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