Debbie L Watson

Adopters’ views on their children’s life story books

This research, conducted jointly between the UK children’s charity Coram and the University of Bristol, aimed to address the absence in the academic literature of adopters’ perspectives on their children’s life story books. Forty adopters from England and Wales participated in either focus group or telephone interviews. While some of the accounts were of positive experiences, there was a broad consensus that many books were of poor quality, children had been inadequately prepared to explore their histories, adoption professionals and agencies did not seem to prioritise life story books, and that adopters felt poorly prepared in how to use and update them for the benefit of their children. Clear messages for adoption agencies can be elicited regarding the preparation and use of life story books, such as improved training for professionals, monitoring of the quality of books produced and better access to support and guidance for adopters to engage in this crucial work with their children over time.

From Individualism to Co-construction and Back Again: Rethinking Research Methodology for Children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities

Children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are said to experience severe congenital impairments to consciousness and cognition stemming from neurological damage. Such children are understood as operating at the pre-verbal stages of development, and research in the field typically draws conceptual resources from psychology to devise educational interventions and assessment tools. Criticism has been levelled at studies that treat children with PMLD as objects of research rather than subjects to be consulted. Proponents of the latter view have attempted to redress the situation by exploring how personal experiences can be gleaned through adapted qualitative methods. Debate about methodology in the PMLD field tends to coalesce around these individualist polemics: either children with PMLD are positioned as incompetent and lacking voice; or researchers are positioned as lacking the appropriate tools to gain access to such voice. This paper offers an alternative position to the individualism of post-positivist/constructivist approaches, identifying the need for a critical and participatory approach that sees knowledge about children with PMLD as situated and co-constructed through regular and longitudinal interaction between the researcher, children with PMLD, and significant others. Context to this argument is provided by exploring the application of this approach to an inclusive education research project for a child with PMLD.

Pond life that ‘know their place’: exploring teaching and learning support assistants’ experiences through positioning theory

Teaching and learning support assistants (TLSAs) are notoriously underpaid and undervalued as members of school workforces in England and elsewhere in the world, where the discourse of support has worked to legitimize their poor status. This article reports and explores empirical findings through the lens of positioning theory. This theoretical approach has revealed ways in which the positions occupied by TLSAs are consolidated in social acts and discursive practices that contribute to a narrative that is shared and understood by those positioned and those positioning. The multiplicity of, and sometimes competing, positions occupied by TLSAs are revealed through different readings of the collective storylines of pond life and knowing one’s place that determine a set of social and occupational practices. These serve to illustrate the discursive fights TLSAs were engaged in to assert their professionalism in schools and to challenge their low status.

Examining Whiteness in a Children's Centre

This article utilises critical whiteness theory to explore the ethnic discourses observed in a childrens centre in South London. Whilst critical whiteness has been used as a framework to understand race, racism and multiculturalism in a number of settings, including education, there are few studies that have sought to understand ethnicity in early years contexts in this way. A key focus of the research was to develop child focused methods that captured the perspectives of three- to five-year-olds on ethnicity through photo-elicitation and walking tours. The article explores the multiple ways that whiteness was performed, constructed and deconstructed by the parents, young children and staff in the centre. The article concludes that further explorations of whiteness in early childhood settings are needed in order to develop strategies that will help to produce a version of whiteness that can play a role in the struggle against racism and offer more multicultural early years and family support provisions.

Getting to the bottom of toxocariasis prevention.

In last months issue of the Public Health, Black et al. present evidence for a deepening disparity in childhood obesity between the most and least deprived children in the United Kingdom and called for research into why this might be. While the reasons are no doubt complex and multifactorial, available spaces for outdoor play in more deprived areas, and their attractiveness or otherwise, might be an important factor. Specifically, areas heavily contaminated with dog faeces can dissuade people, including children and other vulnerable individuals, from taking outdoor exercise.

Adopted children’s co-production and use of ‘trove’ (a digitally enhanced memory box) to better understand their care histories through precious objects:

This article presents an innovative project to develop and trial a prototype product called ‘trove’ to start to address challenges identified regarding current practice of life story work with children who are looked after and adopted. trove is a digitally enhanced memory box that utilises raspberry pi (a small single board computer) and radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies to enable children to record their memories and to attach these to their precious objects using an electronic tag: providing a safe ‘container’ for their mementoes and memories. Located in theories of narrative identity and object attachment and drawing on Brodinsky’s concept of communicative openness, we describe the children’s engagements in the design and report the results of a small trial of 10 troves with adopted children in England.

Interventions that enhance health services for parents and infants to improve child development and social and emotional well-being in high-income countries: a systematic review

Background Experiences in the first 1000 days of life have a critical influence on child development and health. Health services that provide support for families need evidence about how best to improve their provision. Methods We systematically reviewed the evidence for interventions in high-income countries to improve child development by enhancing health service contact with parents from the antenatal period to 24 months postpartum. We searched 15 databases and trial registers for studies published in any language between 01 January 1996 and 01 April 2016. We also searched 58 programme or organisation websites and the electronic table of contents of eight journals. Results Primary outcomes were motor, cognitive and language development, and social-emotional well-being measured to 39 months of age (to allow the interventions time to produce demonstrable effects). Results were reported using narrative synthesis due to the variation in study populations, intervention design and outcome measurement. 22 of the 12 986 studies identified met eligibility criteria. Using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) working group criteria, the quality of evidence overall was moderate to low. There was limited evidence for intervention effectiveness: positive effects were seen in 1/6 studies for motor development, 4/11 for language development, 4/8 for cognitive development and 3/19 for social-emotional well-being. However, most studies showing positive effects were at high/unclear risk of bias, within-study effects were inconsistent and negative effects were also seen. Intervention content and intensity varied greatly, but this was not associated with effectiveness. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence that interventions currently available to enhance health service contacts up to 24 months postpartum are effective for improving child development. There is an urgent need for robust evaluation of existing interventions and to develop and evaluate novel interventions to enhance the offer to all families. PROSPERO registration number CRD42015015468.

Interventions that enhance health-professional contact with parents and infants to improve child development and social and emotional wellbeing in the early years in high-income countries: a systematic review

Abstract Background Experiences in the first 1000 days of life have a crucial influence on child development and health. Universal health services provide support for families during this time, but new unassessed components are often added. We systematically reviewed the evidence for interventions in high-income countries designed to improve child development by enhancing health professional contact with parents in the very early years. Methods We searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ASSIA, LiLACS, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstract, OpenGrey, ClinicalTrials.gov, UK Clinical Trials Gateway, and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform for studies published in any language between Jan 1, 1996, and Dec 17, 2014, using subject headings and key words with the following search structure: [health OR parenting professionals OR known programme names] AND [child development OR emotional/behavioural OR language OR cognitive outcomes]. We hand searched eight journals and 47 programme or organisation websites. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that examined professional interventions designed to augment existing universal health-care provision from the antenatal period to 2 years post partum. Primary outcomes were motor, cognitive, and language development, and social and emotional wellbeing, measured to 3 years of age. Results were reported by narrative synthesis, because of heterogeneity in intervention design and outcome measurement. Findings Of 12 473 studies identified, 21 RCTs met eligibility criteria. 15 had a high or unclear risk of bias as judged by Cochrane criteria. There was limited evidence for intervention effectiveness: some positive effects were seen in one of five studies for motor development, four of ten for language development, four of seven for cognitive development, and five of 18 for social and emotional wellbeing. However, most positive effects were in studies at high or unclear risk of bias, within-study effects were inconsistent, and negative effects were also seen. Intervention content and intensity varied greatly, but this was not associated with effectiveness. The quality of evidence overall was low as judged by GRADE criteria. Interpretation Evidence that interventions to enhance universal health services up to 2 years postpartum are effective for improving child development is weak. There is an urgent need for more robust assessment of existing interventions, and to develop and evaluate novel interventions to enhance the universal offer. Funding Public Health Wales.

Children and young people in times of conflict and change: Child rights in the Middle East and North Africa:

The Arab Spring was not only about citizens toppling the regime in Tunisia, occupying Tahrir Square in Egypt and the streets of Yemen and Bahrain, and militant confrontations in Libya. It was about a generation that had dreams and that is now facing challenges to live in dignity. Not only young people, but children too were part of the uprisings, whether joining their parents or joining the dissent against their parents’ wishes. Others who had no one to encourage or discourage decided for themselves: street children, child street vendors and school pupils were present on the streets in many instances of pacifist demonstrations or violent clashes since 2011, including in Syria which has turned into a devastating prolonged violent conflict. Their role remains neglected in Arab Spring commentaries, and their suffering has not invited the in-depth study it deserves. The extent to which their involvement in different political contexts has also influenced children’s and young people’s memories and identities has also escaped thorough documentation. The aim of this special issue is to bring together articles from established and emergent academics and practitioners who have direct experience and empirical data on the lives of children in the Middle East and North African (MENA) regions, particularly since the Arab Spring uprisings. Our critical focus is on the role of children and young people in influencing political and cultural change in the region and the impacts upon them of conflict and political change.

Book Reviews: Flows, Rhythms, and Intensities of Early Childhood Education Curriculum, Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education: Concepts, Contexts and Cultures, Wellbeing from Birth, towards Excellence in Early Years Education: Exploring Narratives of Experience

Towards Excellence in Early Years Education is a timely book that relates the summary of a doctoral study which explored the practices and pedagogy of two ‘exceptional’ early years teachers through a relational research process. The aim of the study was to deconstruct practice and professional reflection in an attempt to identify key attributes of early years education demonstrated in the work of these two teachers. As such, it is a valuable text for emerging researchers as it exemplifies the development of a particular study, with clear explanations of the process in a reflective and reflexive framework that encompasses some explorations of methodological, ethical and autobiographical challenges. One of the strengths of the approach taken is the attention Goouch pays to clearly define the context of her study and elucidate the interpretation of the terms she is using. Kathleen Goouch, 2010, Abingdon: Routledge, 180 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-0-4155-6608-7, £23.99