Transcript www.cppsu.dundee.ac.uk

Index
Forth
Child Development Centre
Student Nurse Information
Booklet
Forth CDC, 1 Bighty Road, Glentrothes KY7
5AS
Telephone Number: 01592 612417
Philosophy of the Child Development
Centre
Aims of the Child Development Centre
History, Who provides the service, Other
students
and Health and Safety
Staffing
The Children
‘Play’ is our ‘Work’
What is Play
Different types of play
Links with other Agencies,
No Smoking
Aims of the Child Development
Centre
Philosophy of the Child
Development Centre
We welcome each child and their family into a happy, safe
and caring environment where parents and professionals
work together to encourage each child to reach their
maximum potential.
Everyone will have an awareness of each other’s roles,
sharing knowledge and respecting the individual skills of
all concerned. Parents and professionals work as a team
in the assessment and realistic plan of care, which will be
evaluated on an ongoing basis.
We encourage parent’s active involvement in the centre
as this allows them to work alongside the staff and carry
on any ideas/suggestions in the home setting. We aim to
support and empower them to be an advocate for their
child. Parents are welcome in the centre at all times.
We recognise the importance of play and daily routines
and use these in our assessment and intervention to
promote development.
•To provide a Community based service for infants and prenursery children with additional support needs in order to
promote development and provide the best possible start to
life.
•To provide a service which promotes equality, values
diversity and respects the culture, religion and language of
all children and their families.
•To provide rich learning experiences for each child through
play and other developmentally appropriate activities suited
to each individual child and as appropriate provide nursing
and therapy input.
•To provide support for children and their families whilst
attending the centre and during the transition period on to
playgroup and nursery.
•To work alongside families to help the child by establishing
and maintaining open and ongoing communication.
•To work flexibly to meet the needs of each individual child
and family.
•To facilitate parents to meet other families with children with
additional support needs to offer mutual support.
•To provide information, support and resources as
appropriate to children and families referred through the
PSCT irrespective of whether the child accesses group
sessions or not.
1
History of Centres
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gordon Cottage Child Assessment Unit was opened in
1965 to provide a service for pre-school children with
additional support needs and their families in Fife.
A further two Assessment Units were later developed.
Leven Child Assessment Unit was opened in November
1967 followed by High Valleyfield Child Assessment Unit
in 1974. Some years later a further centre the Forth
Child Development Centre was opened in Kirkcaldy. In
March 2004, the units also changed their names to Child
Development Centres and a fifth centre ‘Westfield’ was
opened in Cupar in 2006.
Initially referrals for the centres came from the
Community Paediatric Consultants but recently a new
multi-agency referral system has been introduced.
Families with a pre-school child with additional support
needs are now referred to a ‘Pre-school Community
Team’ (PSCT).
This allows a co-ordinated approach for children with
additional support needs and their families. For some
children, part of that co-ordinated approach may include
a period of assessment and/or intervention at a Child
Development Centre.
At the centres, all staff liaise together and with others in
the community, such as Health Visitors, Education staff
and Social Work staff to offer support and an integrated
service.
Families benefit from a base of care, empowering them
to identify their specific needs and acts as advocate for
their child.
Who provides the service?
•
The service is provided by NHS Fife, Primary Care
division.. There is no cost to parents for the service.
Other Students
•
The centres take Nursing students, Social Work
students and occasionally other students studying
childcare or supporting additional needs.
Health and Safety
All staff undergo a thorough screening and
recruitment process and are subject to enhanced
disclosure checks. A nurse is present at all times
when children are in attendance. The centre has a
designated risk assessor and risk assessments have
been done throughout the centre and are reviewed
regularly. The Health and Safety guideline outlines
measures taken to ensure the Health and Safety of
everyone within the centre. Please discuss any
concerns you have over Health and Safety issues
immediately with the Nurse in charge.
Philosophy for Providing a Positive Learning
Environment for Students
Gordon cottage aims to provide a positive learning
environment for students, as it is for the core team and
the multidisciplinary/agency team, which operate within
the centre. We acknowledge and respect that
knowledge, skills and value base that each professional
brings to the team and reflective practice is encouraged
so that the team is constantly growing and learning ,
which happens through working in genuine partnership
with families.
To ensure students are well supported within the
placement, the following will happen:
Prior to placement starting:
 Students will be allocated a mentor prior to the
placement starting and this will be stated on the welcome
letter.
 Mentors will ensure that a welcome letter and
information pack is sent out to students prior to the
commencement of the placement.
 The mentor will ensure that an initial programme of
learning is in place. This will include access to learning
through the multidisciplinary/agency team and identified
visits outwith the centre. This can be re negotiated
depending on the individual students learning needs.
3
333
Staffing
There is a core team of staff based at the centre, who work
both as key workers for children and also as a team
providing a happy, safe and stimulating environment in the
centre. The staff are Michelle aitken, Team Leader, Laura
Finlayson, Staff nurse and Caroline Smith and Dawn
Dibben, who are Nursery Nurses.
Dawn Farrell is Nurse Team Manager for the 4 CDC’s in
Fife.
There are a number of other professionals who visit the
centre on a regular session basis. These are:
Fiona Berry and Hiliary Munroe, Speech and Language
Therapists,
Caroline Reith, Occupational Therapist.
Joyce Cummings, Claire McInally, Judith Hutson and Gilly
Carter, Physiotherapists.
There is medical input from Dr Aysel Crocket, Consultant
Community Paediatrician
The centre has a high ratio of adults to children with 1 to 1
or at most 1 to 2.
During the placement:
 Mentors will be responsible for the student’s
induction/orientation.
 Students are welcomed to the placement and
encouraged to give feedback on how the learning
environment or the student experience within the
placement can be improved.
 Mentors will meet with the student in the first week to
discuss the placement, students learning needs and
develop the learning contract.
 Mentors will provide support, teaching, supervision and
assessment activities.
 Mentors will have allocated time to assess the students
developing competencies/achievements of learning
outcomes.
 Mentors will provide ongoing guidance and feedback to
the student.
 Mentors will conduct a fair and objective assessment of
student performance and complete the relevant
documentation.
 Should any issues arise, mentors will discuss with the
student in the first instance and when required, seek
advice and support through the student’s personal tutor
and /or the link lecturer.

Mentors will seek feedback from the core and
multidisciplinary/agency team regarding the student’s
performance.
 Mentors will meet with the student for a midway
placement meeting.
 Mentors will meet with the student for the final
assessment.
 Students should bring with them their log in details for
the NHS, this will enable you to have access to the
computer to undertake research and/or complete
projects.
On Completion of the Placement
 The student will be asked to complete a student
evaluation form, which is submitted to the practice
educational facilitator.
 The mentor or coordinator will discuss the placement
with the student and ask for any suggestions which
could improve learning experience for a future student.
 Mentors will reflect on any comments/suggestions from
the student evaluation form or discussion and take
action if appropriate.
The Children
‘PLAY’ IS OUR ‘WORK’
The Children are the most important people.
Children attending the Centre may have any additional support
need including the following:
CEREBRAL PALSY
EPILEPSY
VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
HEARING IMPAIRMENT
COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES
DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY
GENETIC DISORDERS
CONGENITAL ABNORMALITIES
CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITIONS
AUTSTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER
The Centre is run on similar lines to Nursery, with the
emphasis on therapy through play. Play in the Centre at
times is structured slightly differently in comparison to
Nurseries/Playgroups, but activities are specially chosen to
help the child develop skills, abilities and understanding,
allowing them the opportunity to reach their maximum
potential.
The child with special needs may take longer to reach each
subsequent milestone, but must be given the time and
opportunity to do so. They need constant encouragement
and stimulation during play to attain these milestones.
Pre-school children of various ages between 0-3 attend the
centre for 1,2 or 3 sessions per week. A maximum of 8
children can attend each day, dependent on their needs.
Nursing staff and therapists plan care with the families and
keep written records which are updated weekly.
Children are provided with a daily passport.
Children’s medication given when necessary
Play is important for the all round development of the child.
We use play to stimulate interest and curiosity, which result in
learning.
We all work together and plan appropriate types of play for
each child. Therapy programmes are carried out through the
play activities in the centre. Therapy through play can be in a
group setting or individualised.
The Centre provides a selection of activities to encompass
the needs of the child. There are areas of cross-over and no
activity is better than any other, but a balance provides the
best opportunity for the child. The children can experiment,
practise physical skills, imagine, create, solve problems,
learn about and cope with feelings.
CONFIDENTIALITY is assured at all times
5
What Is Play
Different Types Of Play
Play is fun. Everyone agrees about that. Some people think that
play
. is just a nice way for children to use up their free time but that
it can’t be important or useful. They are wrong. Just because you
enjoy it, doesn’t mean it isn’t good for you.
Children develop from tiny, helpless babies and need to
practice lots of different activities to develop the
skills and abilities they need as they grow.
So what is play for? Why do children, of all ages, all over the
world play whenever they have the chance?
The simple answer is that play is how children learn and making it
fun is nature’s way of ensuring that children get lots and lots of
practice.
Even tiny babies play, practising moving their hands or sucking
their toes which helps them learn to control their bodies. The
games children play are directly linked to the needs of the growing
body and mind. Children’s play has been closely studied by child
psychologists who have catalogued the pattern of development of
skills and abilities from birth.
It is not only young humans who play as a way to learn, young
animals do too. A kitten will chase, pounce on and play-fight a ball
of wool or a toy mouse. It will lie in wait for you and then attack
your foot as you walk past. It is busy learning how to hunt and
catch its diner.
Children have much more to learn and it takes much longer to
grow up. So many skills to learn: how to walk, talk, make things
with your hands to name a few. Each one needs lots of time spent
playing and practising to perfection.
We can’t afford to begrudge the time children spend at play. It is
how they learn. If play is a child’s work then they must also have
the tools for their trade. Toys are tools that help a child to enjoy
play.
Exploratory play – to explore the world, to see, to hear,
touch and taste new things.
Construction play – to discover how things work. To take
them apart and put them together again and learn what
properties they have – size, weight, colour, shape, materials.
Energetic play – to practise new physical skills to help the
maturing body become more versatile and skilled e.g.
running, climbing.
Modelling – to learn from watching others and copying them.
Pretend play – to act out a mixture of fact and fantasy in a
safe context away from adult interference. This may be to
explore new things a child finds difficult or frightening or it
might be just to let off steam.
Social play – to provide a pleasant opportunity to be with
other children who are more important than the game itself.
Different games may be tried then abandoned to avoid
damaging disputes unlike pretend play where the game is
more important.
Skilful play – to practise skills involving finely controlled,
small movements or complex sequences of activity.
Some play activities will involve several of these
elements.
7
History of the Centres
Gordon Cottage Child Assessment Unit was opened in 1965
to provide a service for pre-school children with additional
support needs and their families in Fife.
A further two Assessment Units were later developed. Leven
Child Assessment Unit was opened in November 1967
followed by High Valleyfield Child Assessment Unit in 1974.
Some years later a further centre the Forth Child Development
Centre was opened in Kirkcaldy. In March 2004, the units also
changed their names to Child Development Centres and a fifth
centre ‘Westfield’ was opened in Cupar in 2006.
Initially referrals for the centres came from the Community
Paediatric Consultants but recently a new multi-agency
referral system has been introduced. Families with a preschool child with additional support needs are now referred to
a ‘Pre-school Community Team’.
This allows a co-ordinated approach for children with
additional support needs and their families. For some
children, part of that co-ordinated approach may include a
period of assessment and/or intervention at a Child
Development Centre.
At the centres, all staff liaise together and with others in the
community, such as Health Visitors, Education staff and Social
Work staff to offer support and an integrated service.
Families benefit from a base of care, empowering them to
identify their specific needs and acts as advocate for their
child.
Students
The centres take Nursing students, Social Work
students and occasionally other students studying
childcare or supporting additional needs.
These placements form an important part of their
learning, understanding and work with children.
Students have all undergone necessary background
checks and are supervised at all times.
There may be opportunities for a student to observe
during a review, meeting or home visit. Parents
consent will be requested before this takes place.
Links with other agencies
We have close links with the Pre school
Educational Home Visiting Service, Social Work
Services, Health Visitors, local Nurseries, Special
schools, Sensory Support services and voluntary
agencies.
No Smoking
Forth Child Development Centre is part of NHS Fife
which operates a No smoking policy, therefore
parents/carers are requested not to smoke on the
premises.