engleski

Early childhood intervention: can we cooperate better?

Early childhood intervention is a support system for children with developmental disabilities or delays and their families. It is a socially and culturally based activity that in each country reflects a range of particularities of its historical development. This is also the reason why we can expect similarities in the countries in the Danubian region. But the first step toward the exploration of similarities and the improvement of cooperation is to know more about early childhood intervention in each country. In this presentation the current status of the interdisciplinary field of early childhood intervention in Croatia will be presented. In Croatia high priority is always given to parenthood, education and the healthy development of children, which probably explains a high interest in Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) that has been present from its very beginning in the early 1970s. Since that time it has been clear that early childhood is a vital time for children with disabilities to ensure access to intervention which can help them reach their full potential. However early support has been closely linked to medical settings and not family oriented enough. Most changes have been initiated in the past ten years by parents associations and university circles. Changes are connected with practice (implementation of family centered approach), with the training of experts through post-graduate university courses in early childhood intervention and with improved legislation in the social system. The goal of numerous initiatives has been to create conditions that will enable the parent to let go of his role of a co-therapist and become a parent again. The next step is seen in the creation of a generally available network of services open to all parents and their young children regardless of their type of developmental problem.

early childhood intervention; team work; interdisciplinarity

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