Addressing EBSNA in school

How do you prepare to address EBSNA? What skills and knowledge do you need? What identifying tools might you need? What can you put in place immediately that may alleviate pressure? What statutory guidance do you need to use? How do make decisions around recording absence? All these questions may surface in the early stages.

The early stages of EBSNA is the time when intervention by the school has the most chance of success. Time and patience here will save months or even years of struggle for the child, family and school. Meanwhile, preparation will ensure less children expereince entrenched EBSNA.

Prepare: Listen first - really listen

The right approach is paramount: listen, be patient, create a non blame approach, make adjustments and review with the child and family. I cannot highlight enough that the school's ability to actively listen to the parents and child makes a significant difference on the success of addressing EBSNA.

Click here for 'How to understand perspectives and avoid blame'

Process and tools

Use Assess- Plan- Do- Review model to guide your process - click here to become a member and receive a full EBSNA Asess Plan do review how to.

1. Screening for EBSNA

Begin the process of assessing need. This can best be supported by your local psychology services who are always the experts in this process. However if you are going it alone start with the EBSNA screening tool.

2. Developing a deeper understanding of needs and strengths

With the child or young person:

By now you should have established sufficient rapport with the child/young person and their family. You are ready to begin exploring their specific avoidance pattern and to think about the needs the underpin the behaviour. There are lots of different activities and tools that you may already be familiar with which would suit this purpose – any activity which encourages the child to make a connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours or which explores how they feel about themself and their experiences. However, it is important to remember that some children find the level of reflective thinking and introspection required to be a challenge. Some children and young people may simply not know why they avoid certain situations and contexts. It may be that using a variety of tools and question over time is required before we can begin to understand the individual EBSNA presentation.

Please see appendices 3 & 4 for a list of activities, tools, and resources that you may find helpful to understand a child’s individual barriers to attendance.

Anxiety scaling
The Incredible 5-Point Scale
The Blob People
Function of school avoidance card sort
School mosaics and anxiety landscapes
School Wellbeing cards
‘RAG’ Rating Systems

With parents or carers: on the way

With school staff:on the way

Bringing it together into a profile: on the way

The process of developing an understanding and planning can take months and even years in some cases. As such, it is important to consider how to meet needs in the shorter term whilst making longer terms plans.

3. Adjustments, support, and provision

Planning to support pupils with EBSNA should align with the SEN Code of Practice. When a child struggles to attend school due to emotional reasons or unmet underlying needs, adjustments, support, or provision may need to be increased. This support can range from short-term to sustained changes in the learning environment. Early identification of needs is crucial, and children experiencing EBSNA should often be placed on the SEN register. Schools can use a graduated response to tailor their support, adapting to the level of need as the presentation of EBSNA changes.

Schools should also ensure they are applying the Ordinarily Available provision guidance, thus effectively meeting a broader range students educational needs and reducing the potential for student emotional distress and disengagement.

https://search3.openobjects.com/mediamanager/wandsworth/fsd/files/ordinarily_available_provision.pdf

Examples of reasonable adjustments

Differentiated learning approaches
Adjusted expectations in line with emotional needs
Allowing a child to start a few minutes earlier or later than their class
Appropriate positioning within the class to reduce the impact of sensory needs
Allowing a child to sit with a child they have an established relationship with
Not taking part in an activity or lesson which has been identified as particularly stressful until the child is more able to cope (through intervention or support)
Part time timetables - give these time frame
AV1 Robots

Examples of provision that might be ordinarily available

Quality first teaching (differentiated learning, extra check-ins with pupil)
Safe spaces for time out when a child is overwhelmed
Lunch time clubs away from the busy playground
Named adults in school for children to talk to about their worries
Social inclusion provision such as buddying, peer mentoring and structured play Examples of SEN provision
Targeted learning interventions (for example, literacy small group work)
Social skills intervention groups
Nurture groups or ELSA intervention
Psychoeducational sessions on anxiety management/relaxation techniques
A key adult to develop a relationship with the child and scaffold their access to challenging situations