The Ministry of Community Development launched a tele-intervention special guide addressed to early childhood and people of determination with developmental delays and their families. The guide provides innovative ways to achieve effective communication between family, child and teacher and consists of five pillars: understandings of tele-intervention, advantages of tele-intervention, challenges of tele-intervention and building family capability rather than reliability.
The second pillar focuses on the tele-intervention team, staff skills, team interaction as well as meetings and supervision visits. The third pillar explains the environment of tele-intervention, respect for family privacy, changing routine during home isolation, as well as sensory stimuli. The fourth pillar discusses the implementation of training sessions, pre-start activities, the role of parents and specialists, points to consider during training situation, as well as the child's interests, unexpected behaviors and caregiver's responses during the virtual visit. The fifth pillar of the guide deals with practical ideas for application with the child and his family remotely.
Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman, Director of Welfare & Rehabilitation Department for People of Determination at the Ministry of Community Development, said: “Early childhood intervention is an essential component of supporting the family and enabling it to meet the needs of children with disabilities and developmental delays or at risk of developmental delays. The durability of these support services is essential in all situations and circumstances, even in emergencies and crises. This was maintained by the Ministry of Community Development during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, where remote services were focused on the family to ensure the development of children in various dynamic, cognitive, social and communication aspects”.
She added that Early intervention has foundations and rules based on family partnership, training of children in natural environments, investing in the daily routine of families in order to introduce the skills needed by the child, and tele-intervention is fully in line with this trend, since it enables the family to take more roles and responsibilities towards their children, and at the same time allows children to work with family members in natural environments. Early intervention specialists invest the family's daily routine in implementing plans and skills that hopefully will develop children's level and help them become more independent.
Wafa Bin Suleiman stressed that the experience of tele-intervention experienced by the Ministry during the pandemic, has reinforced the important role played by the family as a partner in the intervention process, by raising the level of responsibility of parents towards their children, and strengthening their self-confidence to practice the training and guidance roles they apply with their children at home and in normal environments where children live, and the tele-intervention has given parents the opportunity to exercise practices and skills with their children under the guidance and follow-up of specialists, and make them closer and more capable of noticing the daily successes of their children at home.
Wafa Bin Sulaiman elaborated that the system of early tele-intervention is not limited to children and their families in times of crisis, as it is possible to take advantage of this interventionist model at any time, especially with children whose parents face obstacles in moving from home to early intervention centers, working mothers, or children with minor health problems that prevent them from attending early intervention centers or the competent team coming home through field visits," she said.
The tele-intervention guide can be viewed through the ministry’s website: www.mocd.gov.ae