Raising Developmental Concerns with Parents

Observation, assessment and planning enables you to identify children’s interests, assess their level of development and plan for their next steps. Through your assessments you may notice that a child’s progress is less than expected and it can be difficult to know how best to raise these concerns with parents. 

The course begins by defining the stages of development, recognising that children will follow the same sequence but at different rates. Here you can also make links to areas of learning from your home nations framework.

A child’s development may be delayed for a number of reasons, it could be short term and as a result of changes in the family circumstances. However if the delay is persistent or unexplained it is important that you feel confident in knowing what to do.

Hearing concerns about a child can be difficult for parents. The next part of the course explores the emotions involved in working with parents when raising concerns. This is supported with case studies and scenarios  for you to work through. You will also have the opportunity to reflect on the skills you need to be professional in these situations.

Lastly you will have the opportunity to think about how you might create a resource for parents that can provide useful contacts.

Here’s what some of members thought

This course covered more that I thought it would. I was pleasantly surprised. I have taken more from this course than I expected...thank you!!

Really nice to refresh and look over case studies

It was good and to the point. It wasn't made complicated. Not too long with short examples. Easy to understand. It was handy to be able to save some of the material e.g. Early support and to be able to bookmark web sites.