Sub-theme: Where does the expertise lie?

The third sub-theme ‘Where does the expertise lie?’ establishes that the ARB staff may be at a disadvantage because they do not know the children well from a sensory perspective. At the same time, the evidence suggests a substantially untapped

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knowledgebase of both the parents and the children which could have a role to play in facilitating the successful implementation of the programme in the ARB. Sources of evidence came from both the field-notes and parental interviews.

The field-notes established that staff were prevented from getting to know the children well because ‘key workers’ were no longer allocated to individual children; they were short-staffed and there was no formal mechanism in place to share knowledge of the child. Staff relied on informal chats at lunch and break times. The researcher was also informed that the Teaching Assistants did not attend staff meetings because they were not paid to do so. Having conversations with the parents and children, on the other hand, revealed a level of expertise which could be very useful in facilitating the implementation of the programme by working more as a team.

The parental interviews confirmed concern that staff do not know the children well and are limited in their ability to consider their sensory needs, as a result. At the same time, the parents show considerable insight, which is not surprising given their long-term relationships with their own children and being alert to sensory processing issues

throughout the child’s lifespan. Some parents themselves having sensory processing issues further enhanced this understanding. A key thread, therefore, was the importance of

parental involvement.

Other important threads include a comparison between what was available to their child in primary education, which is no longer available following secondary transfer, in conjunction with the sensory-challenging environments of the ARB itself, as well as the mainstream secondary school, which bring pertinent systemic issues into the dialogue.

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Illustrative Quotes for Sub-theme ‘Where does the expertise lie’?

Parents Field-notes

Tom’s mother: Remove Tom from the class, and let him, you know, take him for a walk, or bounce on a trampoline, you know, and teach him Maths whilst he’s doing it. If he’s getting that good feedback and that’s an amazing thing, that. That’s something I’ve picked up. He will learn.

Trying to get him to talk about his feelings, for a form, which was going in with his EHCP, you know, consider your child’s feelings, well for a child who doesn’t like to talk about it. Well I tried sitting down at the table, it wasn’t working but, I’ve got to do this blooming form, you know, and they want it back and it’s important his views are heard. So, what did I do? In desperation I sat down with him. He was playing the Mario game and that brings him down, it is not on-line gaming, it is important for him, at the end of the day when he is overloaded. So you think he’d had enough and I’m sat there going ‘So how do you feel about this in general… do you like this? and keep it specific and reword it if it is not appropriate, and it flowed, it poured out of him and I wrote it down word for word and I wasn’t interrupting him or stopping him from doing what he wanted to do but I discovered that he had an ability to do both whereas I’d have been constantly (.) you know he was doing something that kept him on the level he was (.) the questions weren’t distracting, he could manage both. He could bounce on the trampoline and that would keep his system okay and you could teach him times tables and he would shout them out.

Researcher: Really?

Mother: Yeah. That surprised me. I thought I was pushing it. So, I always think so many things we discover are not from being clever but accidental and then you see research or programmes like yours, which involve your child in it as well, which is so important, that involvement. (Lines 1640-1676).

During discussion of Take 5, Take a break, Peter reported that he already pictured a relaxing image in his mind, and that he worked better with music in his ears – decorating his room and doing homework. (Lines 3321-3324). Tom proved to be very observant and picked up errors regarding typos and was the only person who asked why I was using green paper. (Lines 3361-3363).

Simon’s mother commented that he needed to listen to music in the car journey and that if there was no music, they needed to consider alternatives. She felt that he had some insight but ‘the window was so short’ regarding his reactions. She also commented on the importance of environment and staff awareness. (Lines 3594-3598).

Simon commented on the way in the corridor being a particular problem in the mainstream school environments. (Lines 3774-3775). He (Tom) also talked about what was available for a sensory diet in primary school – hippos, fiddle sticks, raisins, etc. in a box. He indicated that he would hide under the table and brought in a rug to sit on. Tom commented that it was more difficult in secondary school because they have to move rooms. (Lines 3867- 3871). Adi’s mother later attended the coffee and cake session and told me that Adi was diagnosed with SPD at the age of 5 (well before diagnoses of ASD and ADHD) and followed a sensory diet, prescribed by an OT, at home, which included a swiss ball and walking slowly. She had also tried putting water bottles in his backpack to weigh him down. (Lines 3920-3926).

Adi did not think he could self-regulate ‘usually’ saying ‘Mum might calm me down – don’t know what she does but she is ‘magic’. He recalled having a weighted blanket on the bed, but not anymore and agreed the possibility of a heavy backpack might be helpful. (Lines 3940-3944).

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