The Invisible Principles of Child Development

When our children are small, we focus on their developmental milestones - when will they be able to crawl, walk or talk? As they grow, these milestones become more focused on achievements at school and in the community, for example, are they progressing with their reading or maths, will they be selected for the football or gymnastics team? All these things are important, but a set of capabilities, that are less visible and harder to measure, are just as crucial in equipping our children with the skills they need to navigate life and reach their potential.

The seven invisible principles of child development are:

• Emotional regulation
• Stress regulation
• Sensory integration
• Attachment
• Self-belief
• Executive functioning
• Flexibility

In this informative half-day session led by Nicola McAllister, we will break down and explore these seven key principles of child development that are frequently overlooked but essential for a child to thrive in the home, early years, and school settings. Using current research from world-renowned experts, we will explore the sequence of development for each principle to gain a clear understanding of where the child’s starting point is and what we can do, in practical terms, to support their progress and to help them grow.

Key learning:

• Look beyond the traditional parameters of child development and milestones.
• Understand the integrated body and brain, taking a holistic approach.
• Identify factors that impact on the developing child.
• Explore the seven invisible principles of child development, what they are and why they are important.

• Recognise the developmental stage of the child and discover ways to support their progress.

This event is for: Anyone working with children aged 0-8

Facilitator

Nicola McAllister is a trainer and consultant who specialises in Child Development and Behaviour. She has over 25 years’ experience working with some of our most vulnerable children and young people while providing training, consulting, and coaching services to those adults who support them.

Nicola’s background is in Education. She has worked within mainstream settings as well as specialist provisions for children experiencing social, emotional, and behavioural needs. Her training and consultancy work has branched across several sectors including early years, fostering and adoption teams, community groups, and supporting parents and carers at home.

Using neuroscience-informed approaches, she supports adults to create environments that will soothe stress responses within the child, reconnect safe and secure relationships and develop self-regulation for long-term success.

Member Tickets

We are delighted to now offer our Members a discount across all Children in Scotland trainings.

This training will be priced at £55 for Members and £70 for non-members.

To access the member price, please input your promo code when booking via the ‘insert promo code’ function. If you are unsure whether your organisation are members, please check the list below. If your organisation does appear on the list of members below but you do not know your promo code, please ask your organisation or drop us an email.

Organisations, click here to see current members.

Become a member of Children in Scotland

Children in Scotland is the largest national membership organisation for the children’s sector in the country. To access discounted trainings and many other membership benefits including exclusive content and resources, and discounted commissioned training, please visit here.

Local authorities in membership with Children in Scotland

Please note that all local authority staff working from both headquarter and regional offices including senior management are included in membership and can register as members for discounted training with Children in Scotland. Membership does not extend to schools and nurseries within individual local authorities. If you are interested in your school or nursery becoming a member, please visit here.

Members are responsible for applying their discount at the time of purchasing a ticket, discounts cannot be applied after the ticket has been purchased. Please click here for instructions if you are unsure how to redeem your member discount.

System requirements for attendees

This training will be delivered using Zoom. You can attend from anywhere using a compatible computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone connected to the internet.

Please note, some organisations have additional security settings that may prevent you from accessing Zoom on a work device.

Please check that your organisation permits access to Zoom. If they don’t provide access, we encourage you to use a personal device with Google Chrome instead. Otherwise, please speak to your IT team to gain access or ask them to change the security settings on your work device to access Zoom.

Closed Captioning and Live Transcription

Zoom enables Close Captioning and Live Transcription. Once you have joined the Zoom, you can access this by:

1. Click the “CC Live Transcript” button
2. Click one of the following:

• Show Subtitles – Displays captioning on the bottom of the video. You can also select Hide Subtitle once subtitles are selected to hide them.
• View Full Transcript – Opens a panel/pop-up and displays captions in real-time with both the speaker’s name and time stamp.

Accessibility

The Children in Scotland Learning & Events team are committed to doing all we can to ensure our learning opportunities are accessible to everyone. If you require any adjustments to assist your learning, whether they be in relation to course materials or delivery format, please do contact us at events@childreninscotland.org.uk to discuss.

Cancellation Policy

As a charity, Children in Scotland must cover the running costs of delivering events. We are therefore not in a position to offer refunds except under extenuating circumstances, in which case an administration fee would be applied.

Copyright and data sharing

Recording and/or distributing the training in any form is prohibited. This training may be recorded for internal review and use.

Please note that your personal details may be shared with the trainer for training purposes. These details will be deleted once the training has taken place.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email events@childreninscotland.org.uk.