Learn the Child: Helping looked after children to learn. A good practice guide for social workers, carers and parents

 Learn the Child: Helping looked after children to learn. A good practice guide for social workers, carers and parents 
 Kate Cairns and Chris Stanway
 ISBN I90369938X

Learn the Child succeeds in its aims: to provide introductory training materials for people who work in supporting children in care.

It consists of a book and a Powerpoint presentation on CD that could be used or adapted by anyone who needs to provide training, supervision and discussion. The pack is sufficiently comprehensive to be used in many areas of social care and education as the issues raised apply to all young people who are at risk of under achievement because of trauma in their lives.

The resource includes recent evidence of the effects of stress on brain development, its physiological effects and the emotional and social effects. It has a section on attachment and how to support young people who may have difficulty with impulse, rage, empathy or trust.

My main criticisms are with the title – Learn The Child did not sit comfortably with my appreciation of grammar – and with the statistics and legislation that only relate to England and Wales. Users in Scotland and Northern Ireland would have to find local information. But this well-produced pack would be useful to many professionals.

Peta Barber is area principal educational psychologist, The Highland Council