Day Care Center for Rehabilitation of Children and Youth

Mali dom – Zagreb

Croatia

Access to Appropriate Programs for Children with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment and Deaf Blind Children in Croatia

Children with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment in Croatia

Prevalence of children with disabilities (up to 14 years)Multiple disabilities : 13 540Multiple disabilities and visual impairment - estimated number 2402 Deafblindness -estimated number -175 /250

Timely detection Undue referall

Support for Children with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment

Early Intervention Programs

School programsSpecial Mainstream

Day Care Centres /educational and habilitational programs/

Institutions /rehabilitational programs/

Mali dom- Zagreb : specialized programs for MDVI children

Deafblindness

2003. recognized in our legal system, but still there are problems in the identification, diagnosis and classification of deafblind people

Educational and rehabilitational programs for DB children:

Schools (special and mainstream schools) – with no or mild additional disabilitiesMali dom- Zagreb –with additional disabilitiesDodir – focused mostly on adults

Mali dom - Zagreb

Inter/transdisciplinary assessment

Early intervention

Educational/Rehabilitational

program

Networking with organizations and professionals nationally and internationally

Resource center

HistoryStarted as NGO working with MDVI children 18 years ago

Perkins School for the Blind – from 1997 with first ELP student, until today constant support in developing appropriate programs

CBM Germany

2001 program officially recognized as spealized program for MDVI children from the Ministry of Social Welfare

NGO transformed into public institution Mali dom- Zagreb founded by City of Zagreb

Up to now more than 1320 children with multiple impairments and their families have been supported by our program

Inter/transdisciplinary assessment• GMFM – functional motor assessment

• Educational rehabilitation assessment

• Functional vision assessment

• General movement /developmental assessment birth to 3

month/

• Speech and communication aassessment

• Sensory integration assessment

• Occupational therapy assessment

• Psychological assessment

AssessmentInter/Transdisciplinary

Spec.Ed.Teachers Physiotherapist Speech therapist Occupational therapist Pychologist SIAT therapist

Overall

Basis for the creation

of optimal individual

educational plan

Early InterventionRehabilitation programs from birth to the age of 3 years

Home visits and centre based

Creating Individual educational plan and the individual family support/service plan (IFSP) and family map

Additional programs:• Experience groups• Halliwick swimming• Parents support group

Day Care CenterMali dom runs its program through the everyday activities

After assessment, observation and consulting with parents, IEP –

individual education plan is created for every and each child

Number of children in the group:6 – 8

In each group there are individual and group activities conducts in

accordance with goals set in IEP of every child

Educational activities

Daily living activities

Domestic activities

Social/Cultural/Leisure activities

Communication• Basis and integral part of our curriculum

• Embedded in all activities

and used across all curriculum

areas

• Multimodal communication approach

• Assessment of child’s communication level

• Communication system matching child’s communication level

Specific habilitation services

Therapy dog

Kinesitherapy Assistive tecnology Sensory integration

SnoezelnSwimming

Low vision devicesOrientation and mobilityVisual stimulations

Creative therapeutic activitiesMusic therapy

Movement and dance therapy

Art therapy

-

Community OutingsThrough workshops with children from regular schools

Through public actions

Through art projects and exhibitions

Family Support

Active participants in the process

Partners – included in developing of individual education

plan setting goals and achieveing them

Individual and group support

Family gatherings

Resource Centre and Networkingproviding support for schools and other service providers in developing appropriate Early intervention program and educational program for MDVI/DB children

Organizing seminars , in-service trainings , exchange visits on a national level

And on a regional level through Perkins International in: Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chezk Republic, Romania, Armenia, Greece , Serbia

Cooperation on various projects with Universities, hospitals, schools, UNICEF, etc

Strengthening Programs for Children with MDVI in Croatia

WEAKNESSES:

Poor interagency coordination between health, social welfare and educational systems

Lack of transition planning

Strengthening Programs for Children with MDVI/DB in Croatia

Positive changes:

Public Awareness

Networking between professionals and organizations from different fields

Legal framework: Master plan of deinstutialization

Access to appropriate education

Ecological vs. Medical approach