By Carla Cornelius

21.1.21

This blog has been trickier to write than previous reflections as it is much more difficult to talk about myself than about an aspect of Special Educational Needs. How do I summarise 17 years of my life into a few paragraphs?

My journey into the field of Early Education started after my daughter was born. All of a sudden my priorities changed, nothing was more important than to spend time with her. I could not imagine the idea of someone else having more influence on her life or to miss the early special moments.

Being a parent I saw first hand the early stages of development and how important language and emotional responsiveness was to my baby's growth. I joined a network of local parents which was a relief as it allowed me to feel connected with others and share parenting challenges. This gave me the idea of starting a parent and toddler group.....and new opportunities opened up.

I went back to studying and started working in education when my daughters were at pre-school, combining my studies with work and volunteer opportunities to increase my skills.

As I reflect back on my time working as an Early Years practitioner, I realise that, although aware of child development, my studies had not fully prepared me for identifying and working with children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). I can now vividly see the many missed opportunities to promote children's skills and development - things that, as an Early Years practitioner, I should have been able to do.

I would often come back home from a long day of work feeling frustrated about my inability to eliminate some of the barriers preventing children from developing language and regulating their behaviour. I eventually came to terms with the idea that, despite my readings and experience, I lacked the practical skills to translate my knowledge into miracles that would change children's lives. I realised I was the main barrier and I had to address gaps in my knowledge. I joined more volunteer opportunities and practical training sessions.

Becoming an Advisor has helped me to look objectively at practice and question assumptions. I can now honestly say that there is never a right or wrong way to promote development, just as long as one is committed to being honest about what they don't know. This means at times accepting that we do not have the answer to everything and we have to dig deeper into the presenting behaviours to understand the root causes. More than that, it requires accepting children as individuals and not as a category or a label with set difficulties and needs.

I am intrigued to see where this curiosity will take me to....

I would love to hear about your own journey into specialist education: carlacorneliusconsulting@gmail.com

If you want to know more about SEN and supporting children's language development, why not join one of my short courses or accredited courses.