Taking a Child or Young Persons Views

When taking a young persons views it can be really hard to know where to start. The pressure on getting everything into the views section for a young persons EHCP can feel overwhelming to the young person and their parent.

There are so many different ways to create a young persons views and it will all depend on how the young person likes to communicate, how they like to record information and who they feel most comfortable with.

So I have split this advice into sections – Who – How– What – Tools/Techniques

1 - Who is going to work with the young person to take their Views:

There are lots of options, below are a few:

• The young person can put something down on their own

• They can sit with a friend

• School or college can take the views

• A parent can ask questions and scribe

• A parent can write down information from observations if the young person is not able to communicate their feelings

• An Independent advisor, friend of the family or trusted adult can work with the young person

There is no right way to do this. It all depends on who will help the young person to get their feelings out best. I have been in situations where the parents are 100% the best people to support the young person, but sometimes, as the young person transitions into independence and post 16 education, it can be helpful for an IS or trusted adult to take the views, as this allows the young person to express ideas or feelings which may be different to what their parents/ teachers or the LA believe is best for them.

The most important part of the views for an EHCP are that they are totally person centred and allow the young person the chance to be inspirational, independent and let whoever supports them, know exactly who they are. Whoever works with the young person needs to help them understand that this is their document. It is their choice as to what they want to say.

“ These are your views, all about you. It is like a blog about who you are. This is like a passport to your future. It is going to tell everyone who comes into contact with you, what you want and need to make you happy and healthy.”

2 - How to help a young person share their feelings:

This is crucial. The young person must feel free to say whatever they like. It is the job of whoever works with them to enable them to look inside and decide what really matters.

The best way to do this is through informal questions. I like to explain first how I am going to support them to think about their life and future.

“ So I am going to ask you some questions. Some of them might be a bit hard to answer or feel a bit personal. I want you to be able to feel comfortable and for us to work together to get all the important bits down. It will just be like a chat and hopefully we can come up with some ideas about what you want to happen in the next year and also long term, what you want for your future.”

Open ended questions are those which take more than one word to answer. You can listen to the answer and then ask another question to get a bit deeper into how the young person is feeling. You can support the young person at this stage to develop an idea of what they might like. You can mix in closed questions – which can be one word answers – to move the conversation forward.

“So Rob, How have you found secondary school?” (Open)

“Have you enjoyed your lessons?” (Closed)

“What are the lessons you have most enjoyed?” (Closed)

“Why do you think you liked those lessons so much?” (Open)

I try to read the young person at this point. Let them know they can stop at anytime, but try to build rapport and engage them for as long as possible. Before you start chatting to the young person, try to find out about their interest. This way you can move on to talking about those interest, if they close up and don’t want to chat.

When thinking about how to take views. I also find young people enjoy this more if you give them feedback and also examples from your own life.

“ That’s so interesting Sarah that you love Music. I remember being your age and music being so important to me. It really helped me through lots of different times in my life. What is your favourite type of music?”

Obviously this is all about the young person and you do not want to disclose anything which may cloud their own answers, but simple asking questions can feel too intense and like an interview. If you share things, people are more likely to reciprocate.

3 – What are you going to ask them and what are you trying to find out?

This is the most important piece of the puzzle really, but without choosing the right person to support the view taking and looking at how you are going to do it, focusing on what you want to know can be stressful.

Sometimes people like to have a very specific idea of what they are trying to find out about. I like to work with a framework, but it is very loose to allow the young person to go off on a tangent. Often when young people speak freely and without guidelines, you can find out who they really are. The young person may say something which seems so basic, but actually tells us a lot about how they are feeling if you dig a bit deeper.

“What do you like to do Lee in your spare time? What are you really good at?”

“ I just like Minecraft.”

“Oh Ok – so what do you really like about Minecraft?”

“ I have friends on Minecraft but I don’t have any at college. No one talks to me, but on Minecraft everyone thinks I am really good at the game so I feel happy.”

“When I am at college people think I am weird because I have a helper with me all the time. I hate it.”

The basic framework for what I try to find out is:

• What makes you happy?

• What are you great at?

• What worries you or makes you sad?

• What do you find really hard?

• What do you want for you future? College/Job

• Who do you like supporting you and why?

• Where do you see yourself when you are an adult?

• Who will you live with? What kind of hobbies might you have?

• What did you really enjoy last year?

• What would you like to be different?

An example of how a conversation might pan out:

“ When do you feel happiest Claire?”

“ I think it is in lunchtime at college. I get to be with all my friends and we go to computer club. They are really kind to me.”

“So being around your friends and on the computer make you feel really happy?”

“Yes”

“What happens in the lessons then? Do you have friends in the lessons?”

“ Everyone talks lots in the lessons and I can’t even see what I am doing in my work, so I don’t like making friends in the lesson.”

I will often ask an open and closed question at the same time. This gives the young person the option to give lots of detail, or if they find it difficult they can just give one word answers. That way the conversation keeps flowing, without the young person feeling uncomfortable.

If the young person says something which you feel they could expand on. You can use the technique of repeating it back to them, acknowledging their feelings at the same time.

“ Everyone talks lots in the lessons and I can’t even see what I am doing in my work, so I don’t like making friends in the lesson.”

“ So everyone talking lots in lessons means you find it hard to focus? It sounds like you find that frustrating. Shall we put that down as something you found challenging about last year, it is something that you can definitely be supported with a bit more. What would you like to happen to make it a bit easier for you in lessons?”

Once you get going, the young person will hopefully open up and allow you to create some really strong views for their EHCP.

For example from the section above, whoever is supporting Claire could develop the conversation further may help her to note down for her views below:

I feel happiest at lunchtimes with my friends. I like computer club because I can focus more at lunchtime on the stuff I really enjoy. I do like having friends and talking to people, but in lesson time I can’t focus at all and it makes people think I am shy. It is too noisy and bright. Everyone is shouting out and laughing lots. I am sat at the back and I sit next to a boy who is really loud. My TA Sandra tries to talk to me too and I just feel like crying all the time.

I wish this could be different and not get so upset, because when I am older I would like to work in a computer shop and I need to be able to speak to lots of different people. I also want to live alone, with friends, not with my parents, so I really hope I can learn to be a bit more confident. I want to go to Exeter college and do a course in retail and customer service. Then I would like to get an apprenticeship in a shop. I could tell the customers lots about Minecraft and other games.

I think if I could sit nearer the front, next to some quieter people and also be allowed to go and work in the library more often, I would be able to learn better.

4- Tools and Techniques

There are many ways to get the information out.

Below are a few options that you might want to put to the young person. Ultimately if they are comfortable and making the decisions, you will get the best out of the session with them:

• Big sheet of paper and just jot down lots of ideas and information.

• Record a video

• Draw pictures

• The supporter writes out views taking the information from discussion with the young person

• Observations that come from spending time with the young person and their parents

• Collage

• All about me profile page

• The young person writes a letter from themselves to anyone supporting them

• Write a song or rap and record it

There are lots of tools you can use. You can download personal profile one pagers online, as well as pre designed documents to fill in.

Use the type of mark making tools that the young person enjoys most. Pens/Pencils/Computer/Paint/Cutting and Sticking.

Always remember – There is no right or wrong way to do this and everything the young person says is relevant.