Don't Forget the Child

Implementation of new interventions, innovations and creative teaching strategies, assume that we're building them upon the foundation of a solid person.

When in reality, what's underneath is potentially quite fragile and these new building blocks will not stand strong and will not hold up, until you support the foundations underneath. All you will endeavour to achieve is to place more stress on an already over stressed shell - which in turn causes more damage and pain.
Like any builder will tell you, strong foundations equals strong house.

You have to fit together all the complex pieces of the puzzle before you can begin to think that any intervention or teaching strategy is going to make a difference to a child.

The puzzle pieces begin with identifying what makes him tick. Who is this child?
Then you need to identify and try to understand the traumas that this child may be dealing with. What's underneath the surface of the child that you need to support and understand?
Then you need to build a relationship with this child so that they trust you and so that you can make accurate decisions to benefit this child.

Then and only then, can you begin to think about those strategies and interventions that might assist this child to learn.

All of this takes time. For some children it may take years, others only months. Every child has their own story, every child has their own pathway and we may never know what is happening under the surface for each and every one of our precious children.

We can't forget the person. We can't forget what's underneath. We can't apply new teaching strategies without considering who we are applying them to.