New nursery training on premature birth impact on East Midlands children
It's designed to help early years settings better support families of children who're born early
It's thought parents and children across the east midlands who've experienced neonatal care will soon benefit from a new training scheme targeting early years settings.
Although being born early does not mean you'll have special educational needs, it does increase the chances.
But now, an online course is hoping to increase awareness and understanding amongst nursery staff of the impact premature birth has on children and their families.
Professor in childhood development at the University of Leicester, Samantha Johnson, tells us more:
"So this training that we've released is actually a new module that we've added to an existing training programme called the PRISM training for education professionals. Up till now, the training had mostly covered information that was relevant for primary and secondary school staff. But we started to receive increasing number of requests from parents and actually from professionals to extend the training to cover information relevant for early years professionals. So that might include preschools, play groups, nurseries, you know.
"It'll educate them on the impact it can have on their performance, but also to give them information about how they can support those children who might need it. Sometimes the challenge is that because these children tend not to be disruptive, their difficulties don't get picked up, so they might not receive the support they need from the earliest opportunity.
"That's really the point of the early years module to make sure that children and families can receive support from the earliest time, so we can try and change children's trajectories. I think everyone knows what we do in the early years is really the foundation for future learning and it's so important."
Emphasising the need for the new module, one parent said:
“Reflecting on our neonatal journey, I still get emotional thinking about it and worry about my baby’s development, both physically and emotionally, and how being premature may affect her…have I done enough to ensure she has had the best start in life?”
Well it's been developed in partnership between the Premature Infants’ Skills in Mathematics Study Team and The Smallest Things premature baby charity.
Catriona Ogilvy, Founder of The Smallest Things said: “The journey does not end for families when they bring their prematurely born baby or babies home from hospital. Many experience re-admissions to hospital as well as frequent follow-up appointments, and following the trauma of neonatal intensive care, mums and dads are much more likely to experience difficulties with their own mental well-being.
Having nursery staff who understand their journey, and staff who can provide timely support for their child in the early years, means the world to neonatal families.”
Catriona Ogilvy, Founder of The Smallest Things said: “The journey does not end for families when they bring their prematurely born baby or babies home from hospital. Many experience re-admissions to hospital as well as frequent follow-up appointments, and following the trauma of neonatal intensive care, mums and dads are much more likely to experience difficulties with their own mental well-being.
Having nursery staff who understand their journey, and staff who can provide timely support for their child in the early years, means the world to neonatal families.”
The new module explores the impact of premature birth both on the child and the wider family. It provides practical tips not only for early years staff, but for parents too. For example, providing a checklist of ‘what questions should I ask’ when choosing a nursery setting.
One parent said: “My 27-weeker is three now and I really feel that nobody gets the ongoing health issue that ex premature babies have. Her age was adjusted to corrected age when she turned two, but she is still not on a par physically or mentally to a child that was born at term. I am so, so nervous about sending her to playschool in September.”
The Smallest Things promotes the modules as part of their charity ‘Prem Aware’ Award which recognises settings who have undertaken further training and taken additional steps to identify and support prematurely born children.
If you would like to speak to a parent or a staff member at a “Prem Aware” Early Years setting, please contact Catriona Ogilvy who is founder and director of The Smallest Things charity at [email protected]