What is PINS?

PINS stands for Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools.

Our school is involved in the PINS project alongside 39 other schools across Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

It provides an opportunity for families, schools, parent support forums and health providers to work together to support neurodivergent children.

This term, we are going to send weekly information to parents, via school, about what Neurodiversity is and about how we can all support our children in a variety of ways. This information will be put on this page of website.  

PINS will be providing 

• Regular support for schools
• A variety of training packages for staff and parents on a wide range of topics

Any questions please do contact your PINS partner via our SENCO- Mrs Jeynes.

 

PINS Update : What is Neurodiversity?

You may have already seen some information from our partners in Swindon SEND Families Voice about Neurodiversity as part of the PINS project in school. Neurodiversity describes how everybody’s brains develop differently.  Neurodivergent brains could be autistic, dyslexic, have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sensory processing needs, Developmental Coordination Disorder (also known as Dyspraxia) or Developmental Language Disorder.

    Take a look at this BBC article about what Neurodiversity is. You could show your children the 3 minute video from Newsround too to help understand more about neurodiversity. You may have your own knowledge and experiences to add too. Please remember it doesn’t matter whether someone has an official diagnosis or not because support is about meeting needs. 

 Different people’s brains require support in different ways. Over the coming weeks we will share some of what we are sharing with your child’s school so we can work together to understand and support children’s needs. 

 

PINS Update: Anxiety and Worries

What is anxiety and why do we feel it?

• Anxiety is a natural response to a potential threat- this can keep us safe
• Anxiety is a normal response to situations that are new and challenging
• Anxiety is not normal if it is affecting your everyday life

Think about and discuss what happens in your body when you are anxious. Talk with your child about how being anxious makes your body feel. Don’t forget that anxiety can feel different for everyone, and understanding what is happening in your body may be particularly hard if you are neurodivergent. Maybe you don’t have the words to use or maybe you find it hard to tune in to your body. You may find that you are anxious about things which other people don’t seem to understand.

Scan the QR code to watch the video for more information on the

following ideas to help you/ your child when you are feeling anxious:

• Breathing techniques
• Grounding
• Distraction
• Visualisation

• Challenging negative thoughts

We have also provided this information to your child’s school so we can all understand the techniques that are outlined in this video:

https://www.worthit.org.uk/blog/mental-health-day-ideas

Some of these techniques might work for you and your child, and some of them might not. Trying out the different ideas can help learn more about ourselves.

 

 

PINS Update: Lets talk about Sleep!

 Ideas on what to do to help sleeping problems:

1. Keep a sleep diary

This will help to work out what is happening and if there are any patterns to your child’s sleep.

2. Work on a bedtime routine
3. Have a consistent bedtime routine- the last hour should be 30 minutes calming and then 30 minutes preparing for and getting into bed

• Think about your child’s room (temperature, bedding, lighting)
• Try to avoid any screens in the hour before bedtime

 

 

3. Watch the video

• Scan the QR code for a 20 minute webinar to help understand more about sleep and how to support your child with their sleep

   

4. Help your child learn more about sleep: This six-minute video helps explain why sleep is so important:

 

 

PINS Update: Masking

What is masking? Copying the behaviours of others to ‘camouflage’ and ‘fit in’. It often involves autistic people trying to hide or suppress their authentic self.

 Why do autistic people mask? Masking helps autistic people blend in and be more accepted by society e.g. to prevent them from being bullied or being perceived negatively e.g. “too much personality” or “rude”. 

What is the impact of masking?

The need to mask can make an autistic person exhausted because it takes so much effort. This can lead to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Masking also stops genuine connection with others because others only get to know the mask and not the real person underneath.

          

How to support autistic people who mask:

• Allow them time to recover energy after social interactions
• Embrace neurodiversity to encourage them to be their true selves
• Make environments more autism-friendly

For more in-depth information about masking there is a 50-minute webinar that can be accessed by scanning the QR code. This information has also been sent to your school.

 

 This update was brought to you by the PINS project. There are two partners responsible for delivering the different elements of PINS support in your school. The Swindon SEND Families Voice is responsible for delivering support on Neurodiversity and guidance on navigating the local SEND offers for Parent Carers, including building stronger relationships with school staff. HCRG Care Group is responsible for delivering a menu of training to staff in your school. HCRG Care Group will aim to keep parent carers informed of support they are delivering to staff in your school, but all other information for parent carers should come through the Swindon SEND Families Voice as your PINS partner.

 

Emotions and Behaviour

What do we mean by emotions?  When we talk about emotions, we mean the response inside us that we experience in reaction to events and situations.  Examples are anger, happiness, frustration, sadness.

Neurodivergent children may find it hard to express emotions in a typical way.  

What do we mean by behaviour? The word behaviour…

• Is often used when talking about negative behaviour
• Describes how your child responds to the situations they find themselves in or what is going on inside themselves
• Can refer to actions that challenge you as a parent
• Describes actions that put children in an unsafe position and/or actions that might hurt others
• Describes actions that might make you perceive that others are thinking negatively about your child (e.g. meltdowns in public).

 Behaviour is a form of communication – it can tell us our child is stressed and not coping.

 Strategies to support: 

Scan the QR code to watch the 20 minute video for more information on emotions and behaviour and about a variety of strategies that can be used to support with this.  

 

Sometimes we need to be a detective to find out more about what causes behaviours. The video shows how to do this. One way is to use the idea of an iceberg. We see the behaviours above the water line (such as shouting/ hitting)

The things we can’t necessarily see might be causing what we can see. Some areas to think about….

Area of need/strength	Possible causes of behaviour	Possible strategies to try
Communication	Does the child understand what they are being told? Can they express how they feel and what they want?	Use simple language   Tell the child what to do (not what not to do). E.g. ‘walk’, instead of ‘don’t run’
Social Situations	Is the child feeling socially overwhelmed?	Buddy system   Support for turn taking in a game
The Environment	We can think about the child’s surroundings and what their senses could be experiencing (hunger/ noise/ tiredness)	Turn background noise off (e.g. TV)   Comfort toys e.g. sensory blanket
Control and Need for a Routine	Does the child know what is happening next or do they feel out of control?	Write down/ draw a picture what is happening next on a piece of paper   Draw a choice of next activities to choose from

  

Remember to ask the child what helps!

We have also provided this information to your child’s school so we can all understand the techniques that are outlined in this video. We have also signposted them to the following website:

  

 

 

Managing Challenging Behaviour

Thank you to all who attended the course on challenging behaviour. Please see the slides here.