Heuristic Play

Here is a very interesting link to Heuristic Play in the Early Childhood Years. Don't be afraid of the complicated term, heuristic play is simple and can be applied easily in the home or Nursery!

You can easily do this at home as the resources you use are everyday objects and recycled or reclaimed materials.

http://www.earlyyearscareers.com/eyc/latest-news/implementing-heuristic-play-into-early-years/

Tell it Right, Start it Right Campaign

Please support the Down's Syndrome Association 'Tell It Right, Start It Right Campaign'. It promotes positive attitudes in NIPT. More information and the donation page can be found on the following link.

http://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/about/campaigns/tell-it-right-start-it-right/

A parent’s recent experience of NIPT:

“Someone from the hospital called me on my mobile. At the time I was in my open plan office at work. She did not ask if I was OK to talk. Instead she just went straight to saying that the blood test had come back positive for Trisomy 21. At the time I couldn’t remember whether Down’s syndrome was Trisomy 21 or another of the Trisomies.
If someone is going to give such significant news over the phone, they should check that they are in a position to talk and that they have some privacy. I also think that plain English should have been used. Trisomy 21 may be the medical term but almost everyone knows the condition as Down’s syndrome and I can’t be the only person who wouldn’t understand what she was saying.
Once I found a private place I was able to confirm what the test results meant. I was then told that I should come in that afternoon for CVS or amnio (I can’t remember which it was I was offered) to confirm the finding and determine which twin was affected. I wasn’t asked if I actually wanted invasive testing and it wasn’t presented to me as an option. I was told I should do it and I should do it that afternoon. I told her I didn’t actually want invasive testing because of the risk to the babies. She described the risk as small, but couldn’t actually tell me what it was when dealing with twins. She was pretty pushy that I should come in.
I don’t believe there was any reason I had to come in that day. I assume most people would want more information sooner rather than later but I would have been fine having a couple of extra days to process the news. I am pro-choice but we had discussed it and already decided that if one of the babies had Down’s syndrome we wouldn’t want a termination. And even if I had wanted one, I was only 14 weeks along – there was enough time to spend a few days thinking about it before doing anything invasive”

My Baby, Psychosis and Me.

Really looking forward to watching "My Baby, Psychosis and Me" tonight on BBC One. The episode will document the story of two brave mothers whose childbirth triggered postpartum psychosis - also touched upon by BBC One's Call the Midwife last Sunday.

"This condition is absolutely treatable and women shouldn't hesitate to seek help, but many hide their symptoms"

Dr Alain Gregoire, Winchester Mother and Baby Unit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35543747

Therapeutic Value of Play Course - 18th January

The Therapeutic Value of Play

On the 18th January I went to a course of the Therapeutic Value of Play, it was very interesting and mentioned both practical elements you could involve as well as the more complicated Neuroscience bits!

I'll go through a few of the practical elements because I think the Neuroscience might be a bit too heavy for a blog. A good thing for practitioners to note is that in order to train as a play therapist you must be over 25. 

Practical Elements: 

Messy Play! - One of my favourites for doing with children.

Things to consider: Dry messy play or wet? 

Some children don't like wet or dry messy play depending on them individually, although both have great sensory elements to them, developing fine motor skills as well.

Dry messy play ideas:

Rice, pasta, dry play dough.

Wet messy play:

Cornflower and water, oil or conditioner. An added feature could be to allow the children to add food colouring or flavouring to it which can make it have a great smell!

Silly noises game!

This one is great for playing with groups. Simply write a load of matching names of animals on small pieces of paper, then send the children out making the noise of the animal they have chosen! The aim is to find their matching pair without talking and only making the animal sound. I personally found this very amusing, especially walking over to people shouting "COCK A DOODLE DOOO".

This of course is brilliant in helping develop communication and listening with children.

My String Story.

This one is quite interesting, simply give a child a piece of string, offer them a few props of natural resources or toy animals or people and tel them to make up a story along the string.

A good added bonus to this one is to put the children in pairs (probably the ones from the silly noises game) and allow one child to listen and the other to tell the story, then simply swap turns. It teaches patience, listening and turn taking!

"Healing happens through play" (Axline, 1974)

"Play is children's natural medium of communication." (Landreth, 2002)