Additional Support Needs Advisor

Location: Base Linn Moor but travel will be involved to different nurseries within Aberdeen city.

Contract: 39 hours per week

Driver licence required and access to own transport is essential to this role

About the Role

This is a unique opportunity to join a specialised team within VSA’s Additional Support Needs Advisory Project (ASNAP). Our team delivers an innovative model of support to Early Years Settings across Aberdeen City. We empower the workforce to inclusively support children with diverse abilities and needs to learn through play. ASNAP “aims to provide the workforce with knowledge, skills, and strategies to inclusively support children with diverse abilities and needs to learn through play” .

Due to the specialist nature of this post, we have created a 3‑month shadowing period, allowing the successful candidate to work alongside experienced ASNAP Advisors before taking on a full caseload. This ensures high‑quality induction, confidence building, and a deep understanding of our practice model.

Key Responsibilities

Observations & Assessment

• Carry out child‑centred observations within early years settings, focusing on how children engage with their environment, peers, and staff.
• Observe children across different areas—indoors, outdoors, and during busy routines such as mealtimes.
• Observe children engaging with specific tasks and activities that utilise visual instructions, to identify strengths, interests, emerging skills, sensory needs, communication styles, and potential barriers to learning.
• Ensure observations are responsive, reflective, and grounded in children’s rights, interacting only as much as the child is comfortable with.

Environmental & Practice Support

• Conduct environmental observations to advise on layout, sensory input, resources, and adaptations that support children’s regulation and engagement.
• Provide practical, evidence‑informed strategies to staff, helping them create predictable, nurturing, and inclusive environments.
• Support staff to recognise patterns in behaviour, play schemas, and emerging skills.
• Training sessions inform staff how to complete specific recording forms and how to consider any data they may collect in terms of identifying patterns” .

Training & Capacity Building

• Deliver training sessions such as Supporting Communication & Sensory Integration in a Learning EnvironmentandTrauma in the Early Years, and an interactive play workshop where staff from the setting create activities for specific children they are working with.
• Facilitate information‑sharing sessions, including demonstrations of Intensive Interaction using video analysis.
• Promote reflective practice across staff teams, encouraging self‑awareness and continuous professional learning.

Report Writing & Follow‑Up

• Collaborate with another ASNAP Advisor to produce detailed, strengths‑based reports following observations.
• Reports will include suggested strategies, environmental adaptations, motivating activities, and resources such as information on sensory needs, play schemas, or Social Stories.
• Maintain communication with settings to ensure strategies are implemented consistently and effectively.
• Revisit settings as needed to provide ongoing support, review progress, and offer further guidance.

What We’re Looking For

• Professional experience in Early Years, Additional Support Needs, Child Development, Education, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of child development, sensory processing, communication differences, and inclusive practice.
• Ability to observe sensitively, analyse behaviour reflectively, and translate observations into practical strategies.
• Confident communicator who can build trusting relationships with staff, children, and families.
• Commitment to GIRFEC, Realising the Ambition, Curriculum for Excellence, and high‑quality early years practice.
• A reflective practitioner who values collaboration, curiosity, and child‑centred approaches.

Why Join ASNAP?

• Be part of a highly specialised, respected, and innovative teamshaping inclusive practice across Aberdeen City.
• Benefit from a 3‑month supported shadowing period, ensuring you feel confident and well‑prepared.
• Work in a role that is deeply meaningful, creative, and grounded in children’s rights and wellbeing.
• Access ongoing professional development, research‑informed practice, and opportunities to influence sector‑wide improvement.
• Make a real difference to children’s experiences, helping them expand their “window of tolerance” and thrive in early learning environments .

Click apply for this position today!