We're hearing the pandemic's left children across Lincolnshire unprepared for the classroom
It's thought some youngsters in the county are being excluded because of their behaviour
There's concerns over the number of children across Lincolnshire showing social and emotional challenges in schools.
It's being put down to the pandemic, disrupting the youngsters lives, and leaving them without experience of a 'normal' classroom environment.
Alice Vine works with children and adolescence at the psychological Purple House Clinic in Lincoln. She tells us some are being excluded for their behaviour:
"I think they're struggling to understand what the expectations are. I think it's a huge leap anyway from primary to secondary, and especially if they've being in quite a nurturing, small school. I think they just find it very daunting, and on a sensory level, it's overwhelming being in noisy classrooms and I think they're getting into problems, in terms of their behaviour, and just struggling. It's difficult for them."
And I think they're getting into problems in terms of their behaviour and just struggling, I think, to go in each day. It's it's difficult for them.
She added that the pandemic was a huge part of their lives:
"So our young people have never experienced anything like lockdown before and it I think it was so significant. I think it had such an impact on their emotional, behavioural and social functioning and depending on what age they were at the time of lockdown, if they were going into transition into secondary, I think that had a huge impact.
"In a sense they're developmentally delayed, because they've had those two years where they've been at home. They've been with parents who are probably trying to work, and that's a huge amount of stress on families, and I think it's had a real impact. Particularly, if they are quite nervous children anyway or if they have any neurodiversity, such as autism, or ADHD, dyslexia or anything that they've struggled with in primary school, I think they've missed out on those years of building more kind of social skills and the ability to just feel confident within the school environment."
To find out more about the Purple House Clinic, which offers a neurodevelopmental pathway; including assessments for autism, for ADHD, and for other kind of neuro diversities, plus support for children who have had developmental trauma, head to their website here.