Engagement

Provision and/or strategies: approaches, adjustments and specific interventions expected to be made by settings according to the ages and stages of the CYP

Universal

• Recognise that restricted or repetitive behaviours may serve a purpose (e.g. regulation, predictability, communication or coping) and respond supportively.
• Explicitly teach and normalise repetitive or self-regulatory behaviours (e.g. discussing how different people concentrate, regulate or engage in different ways)
• Teach and model appropriate alternative strategies for regulation or engagement where repetitive behaviours are not appropriate in a given context.
• Provide clear, consistent routines and structures to reduce uncertainty and support engagement.
• Support regulation through predictable environments and access to calming strategies when needed.
• Use CYP's interests to motivate engagement and support learning, while gradually broadening topics and experiences.
• Allow appropriate opportunities for repetition or preferred activities while balancing access to wider learning.
• Provide clear cues and support when transitioning away from preferred or repetitive activities.
• Use visual supports (e.g. graphic organisers, task cards, visual schedules, pictorial instructions, and colour-coded materials) to support understanding and independence.
• Break tasks into small, manageable steps (e.g. backward chaining, small steps approaches) using prompts and positive reinforcement.

Targeted

• Use Mastery learning where subject matter is broken into blocks or units with predetermined objectives and specified outcomes.
• Maintain the CYP's motivation while supporting engagement by incorporating the preferred/repetitive activity into:
  • Learning tasks
  • Rewards and reinforcement systems
• Use a "First-Then" approach (e.g. "First specific task/activity → Then music/game"), and pre-teach and rehearse transitions away from repetitive or preferred activities using visual or verbal supports.
• Teach explicit alternative strategies for regulation or engagement (e.g. replacing repetitive activity with structured alternatives appropriate to the context).
• Provide in-the-moment adult prompting and coaching to support CYP in managing or redirecting repetitive behaviours.