Explore Unmet Needs Categories
The Understanding Me card sort can highlight areas of need and experience that may be important to explore further. Select an area below to understand it in more depth and consider practical, needs-led strategies that may help.
Psychological foundations of the seven areas
Understanding Me brings together seven psychology-informed areas of need and experience within one accessible framework. The areas were developed by drawing on established psychological theory and research, alongside professional experience of working with children, families and schools. The framework integrates ideas relating to autonomy and motivation, learning and self-efficacy, language and communication, self-concept and identity, relationships and belonging, sensory processing, physical wellbeing, felt safety and regulation. It is informed by a range of psychological perspectives rather than representing a single theory or model. The seven areas are not diagnostic categories, and they are not intended to provide a score or identify a single explanation for behaviour. Needs and experiences can overlap, interact and change across different contexts and over time. Understanding Me also recognises that children's experiences cannot be understood in isolation from their context. Biological and developmental factors, family and home experiences, school environments, expectations and demands, change and transitions, life experiences, social and cultural context, and wider systems and support can all shape whether and how needs are met. The cards therefore provide one source of information: the child's perspective. This can be considered alongside wider information to build a fuller understanding and identify supportive changes with, and around, the child.
