SDN creates new webinar series for families to support post COVID world

SDN Children’s Services has produced a new webinar series for families on supporting children’s social development following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar, developed and presented by Olivia Liva, Centre Director and Early Childhood Content Specialist at SDN, supports families who are concerned about their young child’s social development due to a lack of socialisation during the lockdowns of 2021 and 2022.

Outlining the strategies that SDN staff use every day in their work with children, the webinar explores ideas such as building attachment, resilience, play and giving it time will be enough to support most children’s social development.

“Every child is different,” Ms Liva said, “and it’s important for families to first understand the impact that the pandemic lockdowns have had on their child and use strategies tailored to them.”

“In some cases, children will bounce back quite quickly while for other children, it might take longer to build up their social skills and confidence. And then there’s the group of children who will really benefit from some early intervention to ensure their development continues to progress.”

Many families shared their stories with SDN to support the development of the webinar, candidly giving examples of the “extremes of emotions” they have seen in their child or children due to a lack of social engagement.

“One family told us about their child chasing down other children at the park, attempting to play without knowing quite how to, because they hadn’t flexed their social skills muscle during the pandemic.”

The webinar is featured on SDN’s Family Activity Hub, a free online resource with a range of easy-to- do, inclusive activities, recipes, Storytime videos and short webinar series developed by early childhood professionals at SDN. 

The resources in the Hub support families to extend the work done with their child in the early education and care setting at home and cover topics such as Toilet Training, Transition to School, Managing Big Emotions, Play and more.

Access the Family Activity Hub here. Image credit: Anna Zhu Photography & Film