Page 21 - How Empowerment Approach Aligns with Just Right: Information for Leaders

KEY POINTS:

1. The Empowerment Approach, similarly to the Just Right Programme, helps children to communicate their sensory state and emotions

through our ‘Affect Model’.

2. We also use this Affect Model to build emotional literacy for all children; high emotional literacy has been identified as a significant factor

in a child’s ability to self-regulate. EA uses a separate scale for energy levels, since these are a distinct aspect of affect; this enables
children to build accurate emotional vocabulary, further improving emotional literacy.

3. EA also teaches (in a child-friendly way) the neurobiology behind different states. Understanding the brain and body puts children in a
better position to make positive changes:

‘Until you make the unconscious, conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.’ Carl Yung

4. EA holds high expectations of children to improve pro-social skills by emphasising the importance of learning to manage our ‘affect’ in

ways that are good for everyone.

5. Importantly, EA goes further in helping the child to have a structure and language for working out the ‘why’ behind their affect – the

unmet need (summarised as the 5Cs). This knowledge is key to the child (with support) being able to plan for things to be better,

6. EA uses colours that are recognised by the wider public as representing different ‘affect’. This means that parents, the wider family and

other adults working with the child can adopt the model easily.

7. The colours used within EA run through the entire approach and are linked to other models within it (e.g. the Growth Zones model); this
reinforces children’s understanding and ability to communicate their affect and needs in helpful ways.

8. EA helps everyone understand the importance of ‘affect’ over the long-term – the big impact it can have on the body and brain. This
shared understanding builds better understanding of each other across the community.

9. EA goes further and provides a structure for planning changes our daily affect.

10. Finally, EA provides a framework for helping children to build Executive Function Skills – skills that are crucial for managing at home and at
school.