The Playing and Learning to Socialise (PALS) programme is being used at 50 nurseries, pre-schools and nursery schools in Hillingdon. PALS is a social skills programme that originated in Australia, developed by teachers and clinical psychologists for three- to six-year-olds.
In 20-minute sessions run over ten weeks, children learn greeting, turn-taking and sharing, speaking and listening, and problem-solving using puppets.
Early years inclusion advisor Julie Mellor, who conducted an evaluation of the programme, said, 'We teach the children about emotional literacy, like when you feel angry, recognising the feeling that creates in your stomach and counting to ten.'
Nine settings took part in an initial pilot with children chosen from a screening process where practitioners looked for 'internalising' behaviour - for example, children who did not talk to their peers or preferred to play alone - and 'externalising behaviour', such as children who did not do as they were asked or who behaved aggressively. Nurseries were randomly assigned either to take part in PALS (27 children in five settings) or to act as a control group (15 children in four settings).
An assessment of children before and after the programme found that the PALS group experienced significantly fewer problems than the control group.
Anita Peacock, a nursery officer at Nestle Avenue Children's Centre in Hillingdon, said, 'It is a socialisation tool. It's really useful for trying to encourage the quiet children to speak up and ask for help if they need it, and to encourage the confident children to take more time to say hello and include others.'
Hillingdon Borough Council will be highlighting the PALS programme at a conference on 28 March. For information visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/pals.
