Early Developmental Support - elearning for healthcare
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This programme is in partnership with...
  • Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  • University of Hertfordshire

About the Early Developmental Support programme

Early Developmental Support is a programme consisting of six elearning sessions, each about 30 mins of study time, including self-assessments. The programme aims to provide essential information on supporting children/young people at neurodevelopmental risk due to disabilities or other challenges to development.

The programme also aims to provide a framework for accessing and using the full range of Early Developmental Support materials as part of planned multi-disciplinary service provision. Early identification of needs and delivering appropriate support, with the child/young person and family at the centre, helps avoid developmental difficulties becoming entrenched and affecting other developmental pathways. It will also help professionals and parents to work together to ensure joined-up and continuous therapeutic input.

The course consists of the following elearning sessions:

  1. Supporting Children’s and Young People’s Development
  2. An Introduction to Using Early Support Materials in Context
  3. Introducing and Using a Developmental Journal
  4. Developmental Journal Visual Impairment: Developmental Principles Part 1
  5. Developmental Journal Visual Impairment: Developmental Principles Part 2
  6. General Developmental Principles

Sample session

  • Supporting Children’s and Young People’s Development

    This session focuses on the Early Support concept and how to find and use related resources.

Project Board and Team

  • John Oates

    John Oates

    Snr Lecturer (Developmental Psychology), Open University
  • Gemma Borwick

    Gemma Borwick

    Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  • Ade Shannon

    Ade Shannon

    Project Manager, HHE elearning for healthcare
  • elfh staff - Jen Van Iwaarden

    Lead Learning Designer, elearning for healthcare

    Lead Learning Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare

How to access

In order to access the Early Developmental Support programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

To view the Early Developmental Support programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.

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NHS healthcare staff in England

The Early Developmental Support programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.

Further details are available here.

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Early Developmental Support programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.

elfh is an NHS England Programme in partnership with the NHS and Professional Bodies