Creating effective Networks for children

As a result of my experience teaching a wide range of children at varying levels of development, I have always taught networks in a very structured way. It is extremely important that children make their own choices about who they have on their Network but I have created a formula to guide them so as to create a Network that will be effective and as accessible as possible. Using the Network Hand model, I encourage children to choose a person from their home to go on the thumb, two people from school on the next two fingers and two people from the community on the remaining two fingers.

There are two reasons I have always encouraged children to choose an extra Network person at school. Firstly, a child with special needs may not have the cognitive skills to make the decision to tell somebody else at school if their designated Network person is unavailable. Secondly, children in remote communities may be limited in the number of people available to them, outside school, that they feel comfortable to include on their Network.Most recently, at a conference I attended in Queensland, a police officer spoke about having to interview children at school. She highlighted the fact that if a child discloses any form of abuse to a teacher, that teacher then becomes a witness. Should the child require a support person during the police interview, the teacher who received the disclosure will not be able to be present. It is therefore essential that a child has two trusted adults from school on their Network to be available and assist them through this process.For more information about the Network Hand model refer to our Parent's Helping Handbook or click here to download one of our Network Hand worksheets.