LEAPlets® - BUSS® in Early Years Groups

What is LEAPlets®?

LEAPlets® is an 11 week programme, originally designed for preschool children and their foster carers or new adoptive parents, and later developed to be suitable for a range of children where there has been disruption to the earliest part of their lives. The first session is for parents or carers only and is designed to support understanding of the model and give them the chance to try out some of the activities that they’ll do with their child in the group.

As well as the friendships that can develop from groups, the group itself focuses on helping parents and carers to understand and support the development of their children’s foundation sensorimotor systems, within those attuned, nurturing relationships. The activities used in the group are fun, simple and engaging and parents are encouraged to continue the games between sessions.

Current Groups

LEAPlets® groups are delivered weekly during term time by our team in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for 3 year old children in foster care. If you are based in Leeds and would like more information about this group, either to refer a family or to attend with a child in your care, please contact us – pam.frisby@bussmodel.org.

Teams from Fostering, Adoption and Education around England, Wales and Ireland have also trained and are supervised to deliver LEAPlets® in their local areas. While things might change from time to time, the group brings together parents and carers, supporting them to understand and build their children’s foundation sensorimotor systems using carefully graded games and activities within the sessions that they can continue at home.

If you’d like to find out more about the steps to running a LEAPlets® group, you can view an outline of the process here. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or would like any further information – info@bussmodel.org.

Parents and Carers complete a LEAPlets® Screening Tool at the beginning of the group, and again at the end of the group. Parents and Carers will also be asked to complete an evaluation form of their experience of the group once it has finished.

Groupwork Practitioners complete observation measures relating to a child’s vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile systems, as well as emotional regulation and relationships. These measures are first taken in the early stages of the group, and repeated again towards the end of the group.

There have been two Service Evaluation Projects of the LEAPlets® groups run by the BUSS® team in Leeds (see our research page to read more) which have been combined into a paper published in the Adoption & Fostering Journal (December 2024).

Groups are currently running across Ireland, in conjunction with the Irish Foster Care Associates (IFCA) and TUSLA, in a programme of work funded by the Irish Toy Appeal, and are being evaluated by a team at Trinity University, Dublin, with a research grant awarded by What Works.

We plan to start a group in Leeds, West Yorkshire, in April 2025 for 3 / rising 4 year old children who were born prematurely, and their parents, to support them in the year before they start school. Do please get in touch with us if you’re interested in finding out more about this – info@bussmodel.org.

The first step to becoming a LEAPlets® Groupwork Practitioner is BUSS® Level One training. LEAPlets® training is bespoke to organisations and typically takes place when a team is ready to start a group. Each group must have two practitioners who are Level One trained and these people can be supported by other team members to fulfil the minimum staff to family ratio of 1:2.

Following successful completion of Level One training, we encourage people to talk to us about their plans to run LEAPlets®. This will allow us to send the materials to support teams in getting a group off the ground. These are contained within the LEAPlets® handbook, which has 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.

LEAPlets® training is a 2-stage process. The first part of the training is embedded in the 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 progressing to part two. There is also 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 2.5 – 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. It’s most helpful if this session can take place in the venue where the group is going to run.

Supervision has long been an integral part of clinical practice and is just as relevant to LEAPlets®. Using recordings made from sessions 3, 6 and 9 of the group, supervision gives 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, as well as supporting the skills and development of practitioners in the group.

An outline of the steps to running a LEAPlets® group is available to view or download here. If you have any questions or would like any further information, please get in touch with us – info@bussmodel.org.

 

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