Individual work with children, young people and families

Much of SMART’s work in the first year has focussed on individual work. We are very clear that where a child faces difficulties that manifest themselves in poor behaviour or attendance, these difficulties very seldom have their origins in school. Therefore we often find ourselves working with families or even communities. It is pointless to provide support to children if one doesn’t also provide support to those who have responsibility e.g. parents and carers. As a team we do not recognise the concept of a problem child and follow Rob Long’s dictum “The child is not the problem, the problem is the problem”.