The Head of Year 8 at a local secondary school approached Families Feeling Safe about running a Protective Behaviours group with some boys with ADHD. He had spent a lot of time investigating possible ways to support the boys who were all at risk of exclusion. Although there were services to support the parents of children and young people with an ADD there was a distinct lack of resources to help the boys manage their own behaviour.
The 6 week programme was devised with the boys and their particular needs in mind but is not exclusively an ADHD programme as it could be adapted to suit students of all abilities and needs. As with all our Protective Behaviours work, the 7 Strategies and both PB Themes are relevant and useful for everyone. It’s never too soon or too late to learn how PB’s can make a difference to lives.
A range of resources were used including YouTube clips. The link between feelings, thoughts and behaviours proved useful and also learning that they have a choice about their behaviour and that they can’t control the behaviour of others around them.
Here’s what the school said about the programme:
“Through this course the students were given practical advice on how to manage themselves in situations at home and school, and the school was given advice on how to support the students also. Whilst there are still issues, the behaviour has improved substantially in most cases and I believe the programme certainly played a significant part in this. In most cases the risk of permanent exclusion is no longer there.
The communication, professionalism and understanding that Families Feeling Safe have shown were excellent and I would thoroughly recommend their services.”
Sally Gubb