We’re keen to work with schools to think about the implications of underdeveloped sensorimotor systems on a child’s journey through education. We’re always happy to run in-service training sessions or work with schools in building their expertise in supporting children who have experienced developmental trauma. If you’re interested in talking to us more about this work, please contact us on info@bussmodel.org.
There are many things that can contribute to a child not having the kind of early experiences that facilitate the stepped progression through predictable stages of motor and emotional development that allow children to progress towards emotional regulation and learning. Not progressing through these stages of development at the right time can impact later stages of development.
BUSS® began as a clinical intervention, recognising the importance of addressing gaps in early development before / alongside consideration of relational or psychological therapies. It is increasingly being considered within education settings where there is growing understanding that, without successfully negotiating early stages of development, it’s much harder for children to engage with and succeed in education. At the moment, the focus of the BUSS® in Education work is on an early years programme – working with children from nursery through to the end of Key Stage One / Primary 2. This can be run with children and their parents on a 1:1 basis or as a small group. We are also happy to support schools to work with older children using BUSS® on an individual basis.
Training in BUSS® for schools is designed to build on trauma informed practice. If BUSS® is the starting point for a school, training can be adapted to include an understanding of the impact of trauma on the developing brain and implications for education.
It can be helpful, if a school is considering either the BUSS® in Early Years Groupwork Programme or being supported to use BUSS® with an individual child, to have a whole school twilight training. This 1.5-hour session introduces the school team to BUSS®, building understanding of the role of the earliest relationships in a child’s life in establishing a foundation of bodily regulation. Good bodily regulation (a child having enough core stability to be able to sit on a chair or the carpet, to feel confident when they’re moving and be able to do things like jump with both feet off the ground) forms the foundation for the development of more complex motor skills (like being able to write or focus on what is being taught rather than having to concentrate on sitting or not falling over). This platform of good bodily regulation allows children to begin to be able to manage friendships and emotional regulation, both of which are steps towards learning and cognitive tasks.
The training supports staff to consider children in their setting, thinking about their foundation sensorimotor systems and how this impacts their capacity to function in school. It can be delivered in-person for schools local to us, or remotely.
LEAPlets began in Leeds in 2017 as a collaboration with the Virtual School, building capacity on children before they started school. From this, we’ve developed a version of LEAPlets that can be run by school staff as an 11-week groupwork programme for children aged from 3 – 6 years and their parents or carers. BUSS® is most beneficial in settings where there is already an existing culture of trauma informed training and practice, where experienced educators are working alongside children and their families where there has been some disruption to the earliest development of the child.
Working with parents or carers, the weekly group focuses on building bodily and emotional regulation. Parents and carers are encouraged to do the activities from the group at home, and school staff can supplement the work of the group in sessions within school.
For schools that are local to us, we can work in-person alongside you to run these groups, building the skills and expertise of your staff through training and supervision as the group progresses. For schools that are further afield, at least one teacher and one other member of staff must be BUSS® Level One trained and also have completed a BUSS® in Education Groupwork training.
Supervision has long been an integral part of clinical practice and its value is increasingly being recognised in education. There are four sessions of supervision embedded within the 11-week groupwork programme. These supervision sessions give the opportunity to discuss the progress of children in the group, build understanding of their developing foundation sensorimotor systems and think about grading and differentiation of activities within the group.
For schools that we’re not running the groups alongside, it’s useful to first identify the team that will run LEAPlets BUSS® team, arrange for them to attend a Level One training and then to identify children and families for the group.
Once enrolled on the LEAPlets training programme, schools will be sent the LEAPlets BUSS® in Early Years handbook, which is the manual for running the group. It contains detailed plans for each group, a description of resources needed, pre and post group measures, letters for parents and carers and detailed information about grading / differentiating activities according to the needs of individual children.
The groupwork training is a 2-stage process. The first part of the training is embedded in the LEAPlets BUSS® in Early Years handbook and takes 4-5 hours to complete. There are recorded sessions for staff supporting the group, as well as sessions for group leaders. This part of the training can be done in sections and must be completed before the second part. There is a knowledge check for group leaders between parts one and two.
The second part of the training can be delivered remotely or in-person. This is a 3-hour training which builds on the preparatory work completed in part one. It offers the opportunity to think about the individual children and families coming to the group, review screening questionnaires and ‘walk through’ the first sessions of the group.
Louise Hill, Headteacher at Grimes Dyke Primary School:
Alex Clark, SENCO and Associate Headteacher at Meadowfield School:
Jancis Andrew, Head of the Virtual School at Leeds:
We’ve been working with a school in Leeds to build on this work. We were commissioned to work with Grimes Dyke to trial the potential of bringing a BUSS® approach to their Reception class. The starting point was assessing children against age expected norms of development, using an understanding of the sequential nature of development and the skills that underpin ideas of school readiness. Once the measures of each child in the class were complete, we were able to work one day per week in school with teaching and support staff to support them to implement a suite of universal, targeted and classroom based interventions to build the gaps in children’s foundation sensorimotor systems. This pilot lasted for the whole school year and it’s great to be able to say that it was successful in preparing children for the challenges of Year 1. Teachers have remarked that they can’t remember ever seeing a class in that school as ready for year 1.
Rosie Hatton, a Clinical Psychologist in training at Leeds University, carried out a 1 year service evaluation project of the work, looking at outcomes for children and the experience of staff involved in the project. Final results should be available by the end of this year.
Working with Bradford Virtual School, we are going to repeat this pilot in a school in inner city Bradford.
We are also piloting a version of this work with a school based further away, so we’re really wanting to think about how we refine the model to be able to support schools that are not local to us.
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