Module 4: The voice of the child / young person

We have talked a lot about children and young people so far in this course. We can sometimes be so busy talking ABOUT children that we forget to talk to them and listen to their voices.

We are going to think about:

• How to identify a child or young person’s needs
• How we evaluate the effectiveness of the support provided
• Different ways to ensure we hear the voice of children with disabilities in the setting

The ‘voice of the child’ is a phrase we use when we are talking about the real involvement of children and young people in decision making. It means more than seeking their views, which could just mean the child saying what they want, rather than being really involved in what happens.

This includes considering how children and young people communicate verbally and nonverbally. It’s important to consider the voice of the child when making decisions that affect them, especially for services with child safeguarding responsibilities.

The Children’s’ Commissioner is particularly ‘committed to listening to the views of disabled children. This recent report reminds us:

The appalling abuse and harm that was allowed to take place in three residential special schools in 2018 to 2021 speaks to a much wider, systemic problem of disabled children’s voices not being heard. This must be a wake-up call to us all’

To start click on the ‘Practical tips for identifying the needs of children and young people’ link below...