Portage

Portage has been a huge help in the development of our son, aims are clearly set out and achievable. The structure of Portage is hugely beneficial for our son who thrives on routine. Everyone comments on how well he is coming on and I feel Portage is the main reason for this. It was really informative and empowering to know your child’s abilities and the gaps in their development and how you can help them to achieve their goals. I gained a greater understanding of my child’s needs and how to play with him and respond to his behaviour

Having Portage visits and using the checklist has helped to plan activities that support our child’s development, and then using these small steps suggested to achieve a long-term aim.

Using the Kent Portage Checklist has helped the parents/carers that I work with understand their child’s development. It recognises the importance of incremental small steps that lead to the achievement of large milestones within a child’s development. Having the clear seven sections of development linked to the EYFS shows where children may need additional support to achieve life and play skills. Using the Kent Portage Checklist with the profile, shows parents clearly how many skills a child has learnt and the progression the child has made since starting Portage using a small steps approach to learning.

When sharing a child’s developmental profile with the families many have exclaimed their excitement over how clearly they can see their child’s progression. All of the specific learning aims for a child are lifted from the checklist with the parents/carers fully involved. Having each increment of development set out so clearly enables parents/carers to make well informed choices when setting aims for their child that are realistic to achieve. Using the auto-text tool enables these new long term aims to be set with ease and speed, meaning time in the office is more efficient! The auto-text also enables aims to be selected from a variety of age sections that are in line to the child’s personal development creating an individualised plan for the child. The four monthly reviews of progress are done with the full participation of parents/carers; this shows all of the development that a child has accomplished in the past four months. This also means they can also see that their perseverance and hard work is making a difference to their child’s development.

Having the checklist as a professional aid enables the teaching to be targeted, appropriate and have a clear focus. It means that good purposeful aims are set and are easy to adapt if upon sharing with a parent they want to change the focus. This continual 'plan, do, review' cycle is made easy and accessible with the Kent Portage Checklist and provides many causes for celebration when working in collaboration with parents and carers.

The National Portage Association is proud to be working in partnership with Kent County Council in producing this checklist. It brings together all of the developmental steps for children from birth to five years from various documents including the original Portage checklist and the Early Years Foundation Stage. The skills are broken down in to small steps so that parents and practitioners can assess and celebrate every skill that the child has achieved. It can then act as a guide to the design of teaching activities to further promote development.

This will be an invaluable tool for all parents and practitioners who want to enhance the development of children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.