Acceptance
for every
family
FIRST STEPS
How well parents perform their parental role in the early years of a child's life and how developmentally favourable other factors in the life of the child and his or her family will be, to a significant extent, predispose their future.
What does the life of a child and his family usually look like in the early years?
After the birth of a child, the functioning of any family undergoes a certain change. In the first days and months after the baby arrives from the maternity hospital, the parents get used to the new family member, learn to function together. They make extensive use of their intuitive parenting skills in caring for the child and establishing a new system of living together. Intuitive parenting is by default a sufficient tool in the hands of parents to support their child's development. Between the child's second and third years of life, most families begin to consider the next life change - the baby moves out of the family environment into a kindergarten setting, mom returns to the workforce. Placing a child in kindergarten is a very important step with regard to the child's developmental needs. But it is equally important from the point of view of the functionality of the family - it enables both parents to be employed.
What happens if a child develops differently than it should in the first months or years after birth?
Intuitive parenting is usually not enough to enable parents of a child with developmental risks to develop their child properly and to go through the life change associated with the birth of a child without turbulence. Parents need the support of professionals to become happy parents who will understand their child, be able to support their child's development and then manage their family situation effectively.
At the age of termination of parental leave, as well as parents of a child with no developmental risk, they also need to
OUR VISION
Every parent of a child with developmental and/or health risks in Slovakia will have information, skills and comprehensive support available to strengthen their parenting competencies to support their child's development as soon as possible after the identification of a developmental risk (early intervention).
Every child with a developmental risk or disability will have the opportunity to develop in a peer group regardless of the limits resulting from his/her developmental risk, and children with typical development will have the opportunity to be introduced to the concept of neurodiversity in a natural kindergarten environment (inclusive kindergarten)
HOW WE WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO IT:
In the first step, we will create an example of good practice for Slovakia in the city of Košice and the Košice-environment district, where all professionals in the Košice and Košice-environment region who provide services to children in the first 7 years of their lives in the health, education, labour, social welfare and family sectors will provide their services in accordance with the bio-psycho-social model of disability and health and will provide them in a proactive, complementary and coordinated manner.
In the next step, we will create an example of good practice in the city of Košice of an inclusive kindergarten, where every child can be developed in accordance with the current level of his/her abilities and needs.
Support inter-ministerial changes that would help to improve the lives of families with children with disabilities.
THANK YOU.