HASLEMERE
SERVICES
What I do and who I work with
I work with children and young people, parents/carers, educators and other professionals to help children and young people to be happy and learn as best they can. I identify barriers to learning and development and help key adults to understand their child or young person and how to help them to overcome any difficulties they are experiencing. In other words, I assess children’s educational and psychological needs to inform the support and interventions they need to help them make better progress with their learning and development.
Many parents or teachers come to me to ask why a child is not making progress with their learning, such as struggling with reading and writing or Maths. Sometimes the barriers are within child, such as specific learning difficulties or more general learning difficulties. Sometimes, there may be other/additional differences (e.g. how they think and approach tasks and experience the classroom, their ability to regulate their emotions or sensory processing, their language and communication skills, their ability to regulate attention and concentration levels and executive functions or having a negative or passive view of themselves as learners). It is increasingly common that children are struggling with anxiety and difficulties coming into school.
A child or young person might be experiencing other challenges in their environment, such as sensory overwhelm, difficulties with their teacher, challenges at home, bereavement or loss, or social/friendship difficulties that are preventing them from fully engaging with learning. Some children may have missed schooling or be experiencing heath difficulties. Some children display challenging behaviour, which can put them at risk of exclusion from school. Some children are educated at home or in other settings that can provide more unique challenges.
In my experience, it is very often a number of related factors that contribute to the difficulties experienced by a child. These complex difficulties can be overwhelming at times for them and for those around them. Thus a holistic approach to assessment and intervention is essential. It is also very important to me that the child's meeting with me is a positive one where they can talk and I can help them to understand their experiences. The one to one work that I do with the child is therefore driven by a hypothesis gained from any previous knowledge I have gained, but is also led by what the child tells or shows me at the time. I am not test or diagnosis driven, but driven by the desire to listen and understand them. I use a range of psychological methods and tools to do this as well as some targeted dynamic and cognitive assessments.
I work with a range of children and young people and always focus on identifying and supporting their needs and working collaboratively with others to build on their strengths and consider how to support and develop areas of weakness or missed opportunities. Some children I work with have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and some already receive support from other professionals or are waiting for various assessments. I am always keen to liaise with any other professionals working with a child.
I believe that inclusive practices are not just key to the progress of individuals, but also lead to whole school improvement and providing the most effective long-term learning community, both socially and academically. I offer specific work for children with SEND to schools as well as more general SEND support. I can also offer consultations and interventions around groups of pupils, whole class work or whole school development, including training and workshops for teaching staff, other professionals or parents.
“I was put in touch with Hannah by a friend. I do not know what we would have done without her guidance, support and practical help.
My son was suffering severe anxiety due to a fear of being sick. I didn’t know who or where to turn to. As my son was very good at hiding his fears at school, they didn’t see a problem. He was much much worse at home and it was starting to impact his whole life. He couldn’t go to his clubs or see friends, even walking the dog was a no.
When Hannah sat down with me, I cannot describe the relief. She just got it. She came to see my son and started to do some CBT [CBT based work]. But she was also so much help pointing me in the right direction of who to seek help from and when and what to say when I got knock backs.
We are currently with CAMH’s [CAMHS] but Hannah still sees my son and is always on hand to answer my questions or offer help.
I cannot express my gratitude to Hannah enough. I would recommend her with all my heart. She has such patience and understanding. She will also see what techniques suit your child, she is not, one fits all, psychologist. She has a passion and wants to help.
At such a low point in my son’s life, which obviously had an impact on the whole family, she was instrumental in his mental health recovery and just keeping me sane and helping me to push on and keep fighting for him.
A Councillor once said to me, after I’d said that I have to fight for people to listen and understand, that she didn’t like that phrase, it was too negative.
Unfortunately, as a mum with a child suffering so badly that he wouldn’t even eat, it was a fight.”
Mother of 9 year old boy
April 2018
How I work and what you can expect
Methods that I use
I use a solution-focussed consultation approach, allowing key adults to share what they know about a child or young person to gain a rich understanding of their strengths and difficulties.
This usually takes place at nursery, school or at home. I also endeavour to elicit the views of children and young people as part of any assessment and intervention.
The aim is to jointly understand the child better and generate ideas as to how to help them progress, as summarised in the consultation diagram (see right).
CONSULTATION: A collaborative approach
“Just to say a huge thank you for leading the anxiety workshop again last week. Your knowledge, passion for the subject came across really well! A very good session indeed and excellent handouts! Well done and thank you- we are lucky to have such expertise in our community”
Headteacher of a primary school
May 2018
As well as consultations, I gather as much other information as possible to gain a full picture of a child’s development and to inform my hypotheses about what might be impacting on their progress, using a range of evidence-based tools and techniques to suit each situation. This might involve:
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Detailed observations in various settings over time (at their educational setting/at home/during tasks
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One to one work or group work (asking specific questions and completing informal or formal assessments, including dynamic assessment, where appropriate)
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Scrutiny of any professional or school reports
To make a holistic assessment of the child’s needs I will consider factors in the child’s environment (e.g. learning opportunities and support) as well as factors within the child (e.g. the child’s development, their cognitive skills and attitude and approach to learning).
My hypotheses will be shared with key adults to discuss and this deeper understanding of a child’s needs will inform joint ideas for intervention. Interventions are usually carried out by the key people, which are then reviewed and adjusted, if necessary.
I am also able to offer to carry out certain interventions (e.g. using mental imagery to learn spellings) or more therapeutic based work to enhance emotional well-being (e.g. reducing anxiety). I write notes summarising all the work that I do that is shared with those present.
I can also write more formal reports. However, I am not currently offering direct assessment work for education and health care plans (EHCPs).
See summary of the steps usually taken below, although I work as flexibly as possible.
SUMMARY: Steps usually taken
I also offer consultations and interventions around groups of pupils or whole class work. I can support schools with whole school development plans, including training and workshops for teaching staff, other professionals or parents. These might be more general in nature, or more specific to the school.
Please see Case Studies for some examples of the range of work that I do.
Knowledge, understanding and techniques that inform and guide my approach
I am guided by many different evidence-based psychological theories, practices and therapies to develop hypotheses but also to inform interventions, as summarised below.
Personal Development and Interests
I have up to date knowledge and understanding of various learning difficulties associated with Literacy (including Dyslexia) and Numeracy (including Dyscalculia) and other areas of development, including attention and executive functions (e.g. working memory, processing, time management), Adhd, language and communication, Autism, sensory processing, motor development and co-ordination (including DCD), English as an additional language.
I also have up to date knowledge and understanding of emotional health and behaviour (including anxiety, anger and loss) and social development (interacting with their peers and making friends).
I have a special interest and lived experience of Audhd and ME/CFS.
Hannah has provided us with a great deal of advice and ideas of practical strategies to help with our 9 year old daughter, in particular to support her with managing her emotions, dealing with worries and anxiety and diffusing anger.
We were really impressed not only by the positive and lasting impact Hannah’s recommendations have had on our daughter, but also by the way she gently challenged our own parenting habits and behaviours and recommended changes to our reactions to the issues we were facing, to enable lasting and positive change to take place.
Mother of 9 year old girl