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• PARENTS IN PARTNERSHIP
• Carol Cuffe
• Disability Manager
• Kildare West Wicklow

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Purpose and Focus

• To work alongside families, to develop a
  vision of a full and inclusive life for their
  child and help them source the supports needed to
  realise this vision.

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Guiding Principles

• Respond as flexibly and helpfully to families as
  possible
• Ensure the resources within the team are
  carefully and efficiently deployed to capture the
  best balance between equity and quality
• Work towards empowering families to facilitate
  them supporting each other

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Guiding Principles contd..

• Work in partnership with the child and family
• Co-ordinate the service so as to ensure ease of
  access and speed of response for each family
• Be guided by current and emerging evidence on
  best practice

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• Best practice recognises that the family is the
  primary and most essential resource for the child
  with developmental delay and that its (i.e. the
  teams) role is complementary and secondary to
  that of the family.

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• Family- centred practices recognise that families
  are integral to the lives of their children and
  that families are responsible for meeting the
  needs of their children but may need support in
  doing this. Family centred early intervention
  services aim to maximise the familys capacity to
  meet their childs needs.

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Service Model

• Many disciplines are involved in service delivery
• Collaboration and consensus in decision making
• Families are integral members of the team,
  involved in the assessment, planning,
  implementation and evaluation of supports.
• Team members commit to work together across
  disciplines to implement a childs individualised
  plan

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• The primary aim of the team is to support the
  family to mobilise its internal resources to
  support the development of their child and
  his/her inclusion within their neighbourhood and
  community.

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The Team
Occupational Therapist
Social Worker
Physiotherapist
Area Medical Officer
Clinical Psychologist
Family
Speech-Language Therapist
Public Health Nurse
Early Years Support Worker

• A team approach to early intervention, has long
  been viewed as best practise

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• Intervention is more effective when information,
  support, and strategies for effectively
  interacting with the child with a disability are
  available to significant people in the childs
  life.
• More involvement of parents in the program leads
  to better outcomes for children

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Parents in Partnership Programme

• Different training and information sessions will
  be relevant at different times of the childs
  development
• Information and support will be provided on an
  ongoing basis
• A team member will provide a link between the new
  information and implementing it into the home
  situation
• Parents in partnership sessions are a critical
  part of effective intervention and attendance is
  essential. Where possible both parents should
  attend.
• Every effort is made to deliver these sessions at
  a time that will suit the group.

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Parent in Partnership Programme Sessions

• Introduction to the Service
• Making the Most of the parent child relationship
• Hanen Total Communication Programme
• Sleep-
• Fostering Independence
• What Next Preparing for the future
• Lamh
• etc..

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Why?

• The development of Parents in Partnership
  sessions are based on the needs as identified by
  parents.
• Parent satisfaction surveys carried out after
  each session.
• A key outcome is that parents like to meet other
  parents in informal settings and enjoy small
  group discussions and sharing of experiences.

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Recent Feedback From Parents

• Great to chat to parents with similar concerns
• Module was very interactive a practical
  approach to everyday issues
• Thanks for the time it was much appreciated
• I had thought about not coming tonight but now
  Im glad I made the effort
• Open discussions, notes on board, honesty, good
  to hear other peoples stories

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Progress

• 10 years ago very angry parents
• Review commenced in 2001- highlighted very
  fragmented services.
• Recommended services worked better together and
  with families.
• Further review 2007 result current service
  model.

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Benefits

• Better use of resources
• Increased parent satisfaction
• No internal waiting lists
• Less involvement with families for DM
• Frequency of contact
• Fewer children in special preschools
• Focus on preventative in prep for school

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Pitfalls

• Moving from Early Service to 5-18yrs
• School is a major milestone
• Department of Education Skills Vs Department
  of Health Children
• Requires an increased level of flexibility and
  commitment from staff

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Challenges

• What does the future hold?
• Progressing Disabilities 0-18yrs
• How do we protect this model given the current
  climate?

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• What Really matters is what happens to children
  in their daily lives, on a regular basis and over
  an extended period of time
• Urie Bronfenbrenner

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References

• Briggs, M. (1997). Building Early Intervention
  Teams Working together for children and
  families. Gaithersburg, Maryland Aspen.
• Salisbury, C. (1992). Parents as Team Members. In
  B. Rainforth, J. York C. MacDonald (Eds.),
  Collaborative Teams for Students with Severe
  Disabilities (pp 43-66). Baltimore Paul H.
  Brookes.
• Shelden, M. Rush, D. (). Practitioner as coach
  Our role in early intervention. American
  Association for Home- Based Early
  Interventionist News Exchange www.aahbei.org,
  9(3), 7-10.
• Shonkoff, J., Meisels, S. (2000). Handbook of
  Early Childhood Intervention. 2nd Ed. USA
  Cambridge University Press.