Circle of Support
As parents, our primary focus is on supporting our children in becoming their most adaptive, emergent, and integrated selves. With organizing and navigating carpool, social interactions, and family dynamics, parents can feel overwhelmed in providing a supportive network that meets a child’s needs.
While we successfully navigate the many spaces our children occupy, a challenge caregivers frequently encounter is how to effectively support our children in their educational journey. As a teacher, counsellor, and parent of seven teens, I have witnessed both personally and professionally the importance of parental engagement for academic success.
According to experts, the definition of parent engagement is parents and teachers sharing a responsibility to help their children thrive in the learning environment. Where do we even begin? Parental engagement can be a daunting task to facilitate and create within the education system. With this in mind, I would like to share a framework that I refer to as the Circle of Support.
What do I mean by the Circle of Support?
I am sure you have heard the African proverb, “it takes a village to raise a child”. This proverb implies that a child’s relational network plays a role in their holistic wellbeing and security. The Circle of Support suggests that it also takes a village to educate a child.
The Circle of Support is rooted in the concept that all children - tweens, teens, and neurodiverse learners - flourish when their individual needs are understood and met. Whether we are approaching this concept as a teacher or a parent, the idea is that we do not need to do this alone - we can create a village of support.
How can this look? My experience as an educator relies heavily on developing awareness - understanding what is happening for each learner. I am grateful for Dr. Neufeld’s inquiry-based perspective, where he encourages the supporting adults to answer the questions: “What do I see?” and “What does this child need from me?”
How can this look?
This inquiry includes three steps that guide the development of this circle:
First Step: Observe and Identify the Need
As educators and parents, utilizing our observational skills allows us to identify if there are challenges in the classroom or education journey. These observations can come from a parent or teacher. For example:
Notice mood changes, including becoming easily frustrated
Lacking motivation
Difficulty staying on task
Argumentative with you over school
Increase in anxiety and stress, sleep changes, eating patterns
Physical symptoms
Second Step: Explore and Connect
Once we identify that something isn’t working, our next step is to explore educational support options. Here is where we pull in additional resources.
For example:
Psychoeducational/Physical Assessments
Occupational Therapist
Independent education plan
Adaptations in the classroom
Creating an inclusive classroom environment that supports diverse learners
Educational assistant
Third Step: Communication
The circle of support framework aims to create space for the child to be seen, heard and have their individual needs identified and met. The team is established and regularly communicating to ensure they are on the same page, sharing observations, and working together.
In my practice, I have the unique opportunity to help create support circles.
Recently I met with a mother who was struggling with her young son’s behaviour. With the return to school, his frustrated outbursts became more frequent and were negatively impacting his home life and his school experience. Reports were coming from teachers who were overwhelmed with his behaviour. Our first step was to collect observations from the teachers, staff, and parents.
Our second step was to explore and connect with a team of specialists. Through a psychoeducation assessment, he was diagnosed as being an individual with autism. Once an assessment was in place, we moved forward with a collaborative team approach, including an occupational therapist, divisional behaviour specialist, and an individual education plan. Classroom adaptations and content modifications were implemented.
From this point of understanding, the circle of support tightened, including working with the school’s caseworker, classroom teacher, education assistant and parent. The team utilized the gathered information to enhance this boy’s day-to-day experiences.
Together we came up with the following:
We identified practical strategies and ideas for developing effective inclusion. Strategies included training on collaborative problem solving and person-centred planning.
Staff participated in potential incident role-play, exploring how to support him and the rest of the class.
Team members were educated in Dr. Neufeld’s approach on how to handle an incident.
We meet for a short check once a week for discussions and brainstorming. For example, last week, I shared an infographic on masking and how that may show up in the classroom.
This circle of support is working well AND I am also clear that not everyone can hire an education consultant, get assessments done, or be in a school system that is open to this sort of collaboration.
That said, a circle of support can still exist.
How can this look? It can mean a group of friends or family coming together in an organized way to help share their observations of the child in need of support.
Ideas can include offering tutoring, childcare, further educational resources, respite, and emotional support. This could also consist of taking a course from the Neufeld institute or even just reading this article!
Parenting in this day and age is full of new terrain and environments that need navigating. Just when we think we’ve got the hang of it, our children are off to the next stage. When standing alone, parents can quickly become overwhelmed under the pressure of trying to be their child’s answer. With a paradigm shift towards relational attunement and secure connection, the circle of support is a creative concept that guides our learners and their families from surviving to thriving.
