The following childhood case study, with names changed, has been kindly provided by a Care Home Assistant.

“Anthony had suffered a profound lack of early nurturing and had witnessed domestic violence. Since being in care, he had been statemented. Although Anthony’s behaviour in school was not challenging, he was resistant to new tasks, easily overwhelmed and likely to ‘shut down’. The withdrawals were hindering his academic progress and his ability to interact flexibly and constructively in small group work.

It was felt that Anthony needed help to overcome his fear of getting things wrong. The Thrive assessment showed he had a ‘Doing’ interruption and lacked the necessary experiences of practice and rehearsal to develop an appropriate sense of his own abilities. I worked with Anthony once a week for a term, and his Initial Needs Assessment was able to repeat the actions in his Action Plan each day.

When Anthony’s assessment was reviewed, he had progressed to the next level of development in the Thrive model (from ‘Doing’ to ‘Thinking’). It was noticeable that he had developed the confidence in class to experiment, try new things and ‘join in’- he was no longer an ‘observer’, but a ‘participant’ and would more readily ask for support when needed, rather than become withdrawn.”