Areas of Focus

I have carefully selected three distinct areas of focus that are all well-suited to my professional reflections and exprience within my placements. 

My three areas of focus are presented below:

  Area 1: Cognitive Development in regards to Language Acquisition

Cognitive development refers to the progressive growth of an individuals mental abilities throughout the different stages of life. This procedure incorporates multiple cognitive domains, including memory, problem-solving skills, perception, language acquisition, attention, and reasoning skills. Throughout my portfolio I will specifically be looking at cognitive development in regards to Language Acquisition. I feel as if cognitive development and language acquisition are interconnected processes which often come hand in hand. Typically, as a child's cognitive abilities advance, so does their capacity to understand and produce language. However, this is not always the case- some children, who often are diagnosed with complex needs, do not follow this sequence and often struggle with the mental processes and abilities that contribute to the learning, understanding, and the use of language. Different theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, have highlighted distinct stages of cognitive development.

I have chosen this as one of my main areas of focus as I feel that this is an incredibly important and interesting topic which is essential for roles such as Educators, Speech and Language Therapists and Psychologists to comprehend. 

Area 2: Understanding behaviour support strategies

Understanding behaviour support strategies involves recognising and addressing both the factors that contribute to individuals' behaviours, especially those who may exhibit challenging or disruptive behaviours and the methods and strategies employed to prevent these undesirable behaviours. These are typically called behaviour support strategies. The term behaviour support strategies refers to approaches and techniques that are used to promote positive behaviours whilst reducing and preventing challenging or undesirable behaviours effectively, whilst helping to support individuals in developing appropriate social and emotional skills. These strategies are employed across various settings but are mainly used within educational settings, such as schools. Some examples of some commonly used behaviour strategies, which I witnessed within my primary school placement, are positive reinforcement, collaboration with parents, visiting the head teacher (for both good and bad behaviour), loss of privileges (including missing parts of breaktime/ iPads and laptops taken away), verbal warnings, detentions and worse case suspension or permanent exclusion (which I did not witness during my placement).I would say that Colgate Primary School used these approaches more than Crawley Hospital due to the type of setting. However, during the time spent at Crawley Hospital I witnessed what strategies were often used by Parents in order to control behaviour. It was interesting to see a comparison of the methods used by parents compared to them used by teachers. 

I have chosen 'understanding behaviour support strategies' as an area of focus due to the fact that prior to and throughout my placement, I found it extremely interesting to see how behaviour is handled by professionals. I found it intriguing to compare the approaches and behaviour support strategies that were used when I was in school compared to the strategies used nowadays and how these have therefore developed. 

Area 3: Sensory Regulation

Sensory regulation, refers to the ability to effectively manage and respond to sensory information from the environment in a way that allows individuals to maintain a sense of calm and relieve stress. Sensory regulation can be beneficial for all individuals but especially for people who have sensory processing difficulties such as people with Autism. Some examples of sensory regulations often used by children include,  the use of sensory toys (for example fidget spinners and stress balls), finding quiet spaces, making noises, feeling specific textures and conducting repetitive movements. 

Within both my placements I worked closely with children who often used sensory regulation methods.  At Colgate Primary School I found the methods used to be more common, for example the use of sensory/fidget toys. Whereas within Crawley Hospital, I worked closely with a few children, with complex needs including Autism, who used other sensory regulation methods consistently in order to help with regulation, such as wearing noise defending headphones. 

Before I completed my placements I did not fully understand what this term meant and I therefore found I was slightly naïve towards this topic.  However since attending my placement and after experiencing personal first-hand encounters of sensory processing challenges, it has inspired a desire within me to investigate into this topic further. This is a reason as to why I have chosen Sensory Regulation as an area of focus to use within my portfolio.