EYFS SEND & Inclusion Training:
Neurodiversity, Language & Physical Adaptation
EYFS SEND & Inclusion CPD Training Overview
Neurodevelopmental & Processing Frameworks: Deep dive into Autism, ADHD, and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)—moving beyond behavioral surface traits to address executive functioning, neurobiology, and sensory regulation.
Global Delays & Physical Adaptations: Practical environmental, posture, and curriculum adaptations for Global Developmental Delay (GDD) and Cerebral Palsy (CP), including AAC integration and GMFCS frameworks.
Collaborative & Connection-Centered Support: Moving away from punitive behaviour tracking charts toward individual education plans (IEPs), multi-agency collaboration, and empowering neurodivergent-affirming family advocacy.
Investment:
On-site: £750 full day or £450 half day.
Remote: £680 or £340 half day.
(If booking multiple training workshops, save using our Annual Plan)
Why EYFS SEND & Inclusion Training is Essential
Meeting complex SEND and neurodivergent needs in the early years requires moving far beyond basic "one-size-fits-all" adaptations or reactive behaviour management. Young children navigating autism, ADHD, DLD, global delays, or cerebral palsy process their environments through fundamentally unique neurological and physical pathways. This masterclass bridges high-level neurobiological insight with practical floor-level execution—equipping educators, Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), and practitioners to deconstruct hidden barriers, honor diverse play languages, implement precise environmental and spatial adjustments, and build truly inclusive, strength-based support systems that allow every child to thrive.
Core Training Modules
- Autism
- ADHD
- Developmental Language Disorder
- Global Developmental Delay
- Cerebral Palsy
EYFS SEND & Inclusion CPD Course Breakdown
Autism
Introduction to Autism
How Autism Presents and Early Identification
Supporting Autism in Everyday Routines
Autism- Adapting the Curriculum and Activities
Autism- The Sensory Environment
Autism- Building Support Plans
Autism- Supporting Parents and Families
Autism- Synaptic Density
Autism- Hyper/Hypo Sensitivity
Autism- Cognitive Focus
Autism- Emotional Internalising
Autism- The Cost of Masking
Autism- Special Interests as Safety
Autism- Social Navigation
Autism- Gender and Culture
Autism- The Double Empathy Problem
Autism & Co-occurring Profiles: (e.g., Autism and ADHD or PDA/autistic demand-avoidant profiles—addressing the "spiky" profile and multi-neurodivergent needs).
Autism- Supporting Play: (Identifying the "flow state" of autistic play, parallel play, and object-focused play versus social/imaginative expectations).
ADHD
Introduction to ADHD: Moving away from the "deficit" model to an executive functioning and interest-based nervous system framework in the early years.
How ADHD Presents & Early Identification: Spotting the subtle signs in infants and toddlers (e.g., extreme emotional dysregulation, motor restlessness, sleep challenges, intense novelty-seeking) before school-age academic demands.
Supporting ADHD in Everyday Routines: Structuring transitions, snack times, and tidy-up times to reduce cognitive load and friction.
ADHD: Adapting the Curriculum & Activities: Designing "high-interest, high-novelty" learning invitations; embedding movement into literacy and math concepts.
ADHD: The Sensory & Physical Environment: Managing under-stimulation and over-stimulation; creating "heavy work" spaces, movement channels, and low-distraction zones.
ADHD: Building Collaborative Support Plans: Moving away from behaviour tracking charts (which fail ADHD children) toward proactive, connection-centred support frameworks.
ADHD: Supporting Parents & Families: Navigating the complex grief, systemic barriers, and high genetic heritability of ADHD (supporting the undiagnosed or overwhelmed parent).
ADHD: Dopamine & the Reward Deficiency Syndrome: The neurobiology of motivation—why ADHD brains crave high-stimulus feedback loops and struggle with delayed gratification.
ADHD: Executive Functioning Cascades: Breaking down working memory, inhibition, emotional regulation, and activation deficits in the developing brain.
ADHD: Hyperfocus & The Flow State: Exploring the flip side of distractibility—how an intense, passion-fuelled focus manifests in early play and learning.
ADHD: Emotional Dysregulation & Rejection Sensitivity: How early rejection sensitivity (RSD) begins in the early years, and the impact of the emotional "amygdala hijack."
ADHD: The Toll of Early Masking: How hyper-vigilant children (particularly girls) internalise their hyperactivity, leading to early anxiety, perfectionism, and exhaustion.
ADHD: Interest-Driven Learning vs. Importance-Driven Demands: Why standard behaviour management tactics fail when an activity lacks intrinsic novelty or urgency.
ADHD: Kinetic & Monotropic Play: Redefining "disruptive" play—valuing whole-body movement, deep exploration, and why spinning, running, or crashing is the child's regulation strategy.
ADHD: Social Navigation & Peer Relationships: Supporting the "bumpy" social landscape—navigating intense enthusiasm, interrupting, and variable social energy.
ADHD: Gender, Culture & Quiet Presentations: Unpacking why inattentive or highly verbal ADHD presentations are missed in girls and minoritised communities.
ADHD & Sleep Neurobiology: Understanding the circadian rhythm shifts and delayed sleep phase syndrome common in neurodivergent infants and toddlers.
ADHD & Co-occurring Profiles (AuDHD): Addressing the internal tug-of-war of the Autistic-ADHD profile (e.g., the autistic need for routine vs. the ADHD craving for novelty) and managing the highly complex, "spiky" profile.
Developmental Language Disorder
Introduction to DLD: Shifting the narrative from a "speech delay" to a hidden, lifelong neurodevelopmental condition affecting language processing.
How DLD Presents & Early Identification: Recognising the red flags in toddlers and preschoolers (e.g., struggles with word retrieval, difficulty following simple directives, relying heavily on gestural communication).
Supporting DLD in Everyday Routines: Optimising high-density language moments like meal times, carpet times, and transitions to minimize cognitive overload.
DLD: Adapting the Curriculum & Activities: Modifying storytime, phonics, and early literacy invitations; embedding multi-sensory and dual-coding learning strategies.
DLD: Visual & Spatial Environments: Designing a communication-friendly environment; maximizing the use of objects reference, environmental print, and functional visual timetables.
DLD: Building Inclusive Support Plans: Creating collaborative tracking frameworks that focus on functional communication and emotional well-being rather than rigid speech quotas.
DLD: Supporting Parents & Families: Deconstructing the harmful myth that "parents didn't talk to them enough" and empowering families to navigate the path to formal speech and language therapy.
DLD: Working Memory & Information Processing Loops: The neurobiology of phonological working memory—why children with DLD struggle to hold, process, and execute verbal strings.
DLD: Procedural Learning Deficits: Exploring the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis—how DLD impacts implicit rule-learning (like grammar and sentence structure) while leaving explicit memory intact.
DLD: The Word Retrieval Network: Unpacking the neurological "filing cabinet"—why a child knows a word but experiences a neural misfire when trying to express it in real-time.
DLD: Executive Functioning & Language: The bidirectional relationship between language deficits and the development of self-regulation, planning, and inner monologue.
DLD: The Internalized Toll & Verbal Fatigue: Understanding the profound mental exhaustion, cognitive fatigue, and early anxiety experienced by young children constantly trying to translate a world they cannot fully process.
DLD: Behavioural Externalising vs. Communication Distress: Reframing "disruptive behaviour" (biting, pushing, meltdowns) as a logical, protective response to verbal frustration.
DLD: Supporting Play & Peer Inclusion: Navigating the playground dynamic—how DLD impacts cooperative, socio-dramatic, and imaginative play, and how practitioners can scaffold peer entries.
DLD: Narrative Development & Self-Advocacy: Cultivating early storytelling and emotional literacy—helping children sequence events and express their internal emotional landscape without relying solely on complex syntax.
DLD: Multilingualism, Culture & Diagnostic Bias: Distinguishing between a typical bilingual language-learning trajectory and a genuine language disorder to avoid misdiagnosis.
DLD: Literacy Neurobiology & Early Dyslexia Overlap: The high statistical crossover between DLD and later reading/writing difficulties—spotting phonological awareness gaps early.
DLD & Co-occurring Profiles (The Neurodivergent Umbrella): Exploring how DLD interacts with Autism, ADHD, or Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)—managing the unique "spiky" profile when a child has multi-layered communication needs.
Global Development Delay
Introduction to GDD: Defining GDD as an umbrella term for significant delays across two or more developmental domains; understanding its role as an early diagnostic marker.
How GDD Presents & Early Identification: Spotting global trajectories in infants and toddlers (e.g., persistent primitive reflexes, delayed motor milestones alongside communication and social pauses).
Supporting GDD in Everyday Routines: Analysing the micro-steps of daily routines; reducing cognitive and physical friction during meal times, dressing, and hygiene.
GDD: Adapting the Curriculum & Visual Scaffolding: Moving away from rigid age/stage expectations toward a highly personalised, stage-not-age curriculum model.
GDD: Accessible Physical & Sensory Spaces: Designing an environment that mitigates physical fatigue; strategic positioning, supportive seating, and low-cognitive-load play zones.
GDD: Building Collaborative Support Plans: Writing dynamic individual education plans (IEPs) that celebrate strengths while targeting functional, high-impact developmental goals.
GDD: Supporting Parents & Families: Navigating the "diagnostic waiting game"—supporting families processing grief, dealing with medical uncertainty, and awaiting further specialist assessments.
GDD: Global Synaptic Pruning & Myelination Trajectories: A high-level look at the neurobiology of generalized delays—how variations in neural connectivity and myelination affect processing speed.
GDD: Cognitive Load Theory in Practice: Understanding how a generalized delay impacts working memory capacity and the rate of cognitive fatigue in busy early years environments.
GDD: The Architecture of Processing Delay: Deconstructing the "10-second rule"—the neurological pathway from receiving an environmental cue to executing a cognitive or motor response.
GDD: Neuroplasticity & the Window of Early Intervention: Exploring the science of synaptic malleability in infants and toddlers, and why intensive, joyful early environmental enrichment matters.
GDD: Emotional Regulation & Co-Regulation Neurobiology: How global delays affect the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, making prolonged, active practitioner co-regulation essential.
GDD: Scaffolding Play States & Object Exploration: Moving beyond passive play; supporting the progression from sensorimotor schema exploration to functional and early symbolic play.
GDD: Behavior as Communication in Generalized Delay: Reframing frustration, passivity, or sensory seeking as direct communication from a child whose multi-domain needs are overwhelmed.
GDD: Peer Interactions & Social Scaffolding: Structuring peer play entries; facilitating parallel and shared play spaces where children with GDD can connect meaningfully with neurotypical and neurodivergent peers.
GDD: Cultural Interpretations of Developmental Milestones: Navigating varying cross-cultural expectations around independence, feeding, and milestones with empathy and professional clarity.
GDD: Medical Complexity, Genetics & Metabolic Factors: Understanding the diverse etiologies behind GDD (including genetic syndromes, premature birth, and metabolic conditions) and managing medical protocols in early years settings.
GDD & Co-occurring Profiles (The Diagnostic Transition): Exploring GDD as a precursor to diagnoses like Intellectual Disability (ID), Autism, or Cerebral Palsy—how to support a child whose diagnostic profile is actively evolving over time.
Cerebral Palsy
Introduction to Cerebral Palsy: Shifting from a medical model of impairment to a social model of disability; defining CP as a neurological injury affecting motor pathways.
How CP Presents & Early Identification: Spotting the earliest signs in infants and toddlers (e.g., persistent asymmetrical movement, primitive reflex retention, atypical muscle tone—spasticity or hypotonia).
Supporting CP in Everyday Routines: Mastering safe, dignified, and ergonomically sound handling techniques during transitions, dressing, hygiene, and meal times.
CP: Adapting the Physical Environment & Mobility: Designing an early years layout that honours autonomous navigation; optimising wheelchair clearance, stable flooring, and accessible low-level play spaces.
CP: Adaptive Tools, Positioning & Seating: The critical importance of therapeutic alignment; working alongside occupational therapists to use specialised seating, standing frames, and wedges effectively.
CP: Building Collaborative Support & Care Plans: Authoring individual healthcare and education plans that integrate daily therapeutic stretches seamlessly into joyful early learning.
CP: Supporting Parents & Families: Navigating the complex journey of medical appointments, equipment approvals, and the emotional transition into physical disability advocacy.
CP: The Neurobiology of Motor Cortex Injuries: A deep dive into where the neurological insult occurred in the brain (e.g., periventricular leukomalacia, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) and how it manifests as Spastic, Dyskinetic, Ataxic, or Mixed CP.
CP: The Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS): Translating the GMFCS levels (I to V) into meaningful, actionable early years practice to support realistic, ambitious goal setting.
CP: Executive Functioning & Physical Fatigue: Understanding the intense cognitive energy required to plan and execute conscious motor movements when automatic pathways are disrupted.
CP: Neuroplasticity & Constraint-Induced Movement: Exploring the science of neuroplasticity in the early years; how repetitive, playful, and targeted use of affected limbs reorganises neural pathways.
CP: Chronic Pain, Hypertonia & Emotional Regulation: Recognising the unspoken impact of muscle tightness and physical discomfort on a young child's emotional regulation and behaviour.
CP: Decoupling Physical Skill from Cognitive Ability: Challenging practitioner biases; ensuring children with severe motor limitations are consistently offered high-level cognitive, imaginative, and academic challenges.
CP: Inclusive Play, Fine Motor Adaptations & "Hand-Under-Hand": Modifying sensory play, markup making, and building activities; using the respectful "hand-under-hand" scaffolding technique rather than taking over.
- CP: Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in Motion: Supporting speech and language development when CP affects oral-motor control; embedding eye-gaze, low-tech communication boards, and high-tech dynamic displays into play.
- CP: Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) & Sensory Processing: Understanding how neurological damage can impact how the brain processes visual data, and how to adapt environmental lighting and contrast.
- CP: Feeding Neurobiology, Dysphagia & Oral-Motor Support: Managing the complexities of swallowing difficulties (dysphagia), alternative feeding methods (e.g., PEG tubes), and preserving the social joy of eating.
- CP & Co-occurring Profiles (The Whole Child): Navigating the intersection when a child with CP is also Autistic, has ADHD, or experiences structural learning differences—managing multi-layered physical and neurodivergent needs.
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