Transcript Slide 1

The LEGA del FILO d’ORO
and its FAMILIES
shared paths
JOBS – Copenaghen, September 2012
The ‘Lega del Filo d'Oro’ ONLUS (non-profit social
organization) always involves parents in the
educational process and rehabilitation, it helps
parents but does not replace them
Disability is present in three domains:
neuromotor, sensory, cognitive-linguistic
from 19.4% to 52.7%: motor problems
PRACTICAL TASKS
LOW SELF-SUFFICIENCY
HEALTH PROBLEMS
FAMILIES WITH
INCREASING
SOLITUDE
DIFFICULT EDUCATION
INFORMATION NEEDS
The family
Takes part
Is informed
Is involved
 The family is directly involved in the progress and
problems of the educational process and
rehabilitation
 We inform / encourage the family to acquire more
knowledge and the tools to intervene in the process
of development of their children
 The family participates, shares and proposes (coauthor) the educational and rehabilitation choises
aimed at offering their child a better quality of life
Adult children
Family separation
Absence of a family component
Different nationalities
Acquired multisensory impairments
Severe disability
Analyze and assess the needs of families:
adapt, change and improve the services offered,
adjusting to the new and different demands
SEARCHING - INTERVENTION Project
The Family in the process of rehabilitation
1999 - 2003
The family, with its strengths
and weaknesses, is an
important resource
DYNAMICS BETWEEN MOTHER AND FATHER
Parents who have had a good activation using the
resources they have available, show solidarity
with each other
Parents who slip into passivity, do not argue with
the couple, they tend to deny aspects of reality, to
become hypercritical
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF PARENTS
Need to see beyond the disability
Doubts about his parental competence
Difficulty in developing a relationship
Difficulty in identifying the most suitable path
for their child
• The child loses in the family’s eyes a part of their
individuality
• Parents need to know how to engage other
children in a relationship on a par with the
disabled child
• Parents need to have strategies to support the
maintenance of roles and family relations
• They need to reinvent their marriage starting
from new bases
Risk of isolation: the friendships,
social relations of the couple often
suffer a transformation
Decrease, lack of leisure time,
moments of leisure and relaxation
Support provided by grandparents and
other relatives
If there is a parental support is important
that to stabilize and preserve relationships
with other figures
as neighbors,
operators,
volunteers,
* everyday life without having to reduce
the time spent with the other children,
* relations with the outside world,
* keeping on working (eg avoiding
voluntary resignation by the mother)
the intervention with family consists
> helping the members to understand
the causes of their child disease
> informing and training them about
the educational intervention
> offering them a 'counseling' and
psychological support
 ACTIVITIES PERFORMED
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- Individual interviews with the
psychologist
- Counselling
- Parent-training
- Group meetings theme
- Groups working with the body and
movement
- Group meetings with the brothers
- Contact families
So that family members can:
Talking about their "feelings"
Be helped to involve other children in a
report on a par with the disabled child
Be helped to deal with the frustrations
due to their inability to meet the needs of
the child
Having strategies to support the
maintenance of roles and family relations
Seminars and conferences
Ph doctors /pediatricians
psychologists
lawyers
social worker
Committee of family members:
<> periodic meetings
<> frequent exchange opinions
<> training objective
<> expression of need
etc..
• The family is now
recognized as an essential
co-worker, along with
technical educational and
rehabilitation path of the
child
To get the cooperation of the family is
important that you establish with it a
relationship of confidence, which
involves listening and understanding,
and absolutely non-judgmental
Welcome parents to LFDO
1. Initial interview
2. Further discussion of return
3. Compilation of the 'family card'
1.Initial interview
• During the meetings, regularly with the
family, we collect their needs, problems
and expectations with their children
• They are informed about the aims and
some of the issues that is considered
appropriate for them to share, trying to
bring out the real potential of the child and
enhancing parenting skills
• Requests for solutions to the problems
described
2. Further discussion of return
• Information to parents on the path taken
• agreements for possible inclusion in the
direct management of the parent of the
child
• Parental involvement is expressed essentially
in two stages
1) At first they are asked to observe in the
classroom educational activities of the child
and the operator
2) A second phase where their involvement is
direct
3. Compilation of the ‘family card’
• interviews and work with families done
by any professional (psychologist and /
or teacher, ass. social and SCI. clinical)
are synthetically transcribed in a
Family Card
Family members ask:
> to have a successful relationship
between the institution and the family,
based on clear information, availability
to listen and help, a good reception /
hospitality
> to observe directly the educational and
rehabilitative interventions, to acquire
the educational skills
> to have meetings with the team at the
time of programming education plan and
rehabilitation and to check the progress
of the life project
> to have the necessary documentation
(reports of the various professionals) to
continue at home and / or at the territorial
structures individualized rehabilitation
program (set and approved by the
Rehabilitation Centre)
> easy to enjoy the support of specialists to
learn about and better understand the
disability (frequent contacts)
> to have talks with the psychologist to focus
on the experiences and family dynamics
within the family and from the event
disabilities
> to participate in meetings between
parents conducted by psychologist;
meetings between parents (mutual aid);
meetings between brothers and sisters
> to have time for them and the other
children, such as weekends and
holidays-vacation relief for the disabled
family member
A functional synergy between departments,
professionals, facilities, etc.. allows not
only to the deafblind and multisensory
impaired persons, but also to the family to
improve their quality of life and aim for
higher and higher goals.