Collaboration with parents of deaf and hearing-impaired children - Joanna Kosmalowa: EN
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Transcript of Collaboration with parents of deaf and hearing-impaired children - Joanna Kosmalowa: EN
of deaf and hard of hearing
children
Joanna Kosmalowa
Collaboration with parents
General assumptions
Parents of deaf and hard of hearing children love their children and want for them all the best. If they lose the way – they do it by incident and they are unconscious of doing so.
After the diagnosis the parents are those who are in crisis, not the children; their life has changed irrevocably and they need support and therapeutic help.
Despite your profession, keep in mind that your role is to help and support the parents.
What do you have to know about the grief?
There are certain stages in people’s reaction to crisis: shock, recognition, denial, acknowledgement, and – finally constructive action.
In some ways the response cycle isa cleansing process.
First - try to understand the emotional state
Observe your clients and make it clear where the parents are in the response cycle.
Accept the parents – who they are and how they cope with their problems. Be aware that all their feelings are natural, useful, and above all necessary.
Second – you are a professional
Parents do not know many things you are well aware of.
The children are deaf or hard of hearing but their parents can be „mute” and totally confused. It is possible – they have lost their competence to raise their children.
You are the one prepared to cope with this / you have to be.
Do not only act but communicate Explain what are you doing and the
purpose. Inform openly what are your expectations
of parents. Set goals, for parents but also for yourself.
Do it in colaboration with parents. The language you use should be as simple
as possible. Check whether you are well understood.
How to act?
From time to time stop talking. Focus on listening, it can be more effective and helpful than instructing, much more – than admonishing.
Work on positive attitude towards parents.The more positive your expectations will be,the more likely you will get positive response from the parents and the children.
Helping parents
Parents need your full support before
specialists
start working with their child.
Parents need help that accompanies
their child’s therapy.
What is the essence of parents counselling and guidance?
Parents need to find their own way
for developing the family life.Also how to meet the individual needs
of each family member.
Family Problems
Who works with children?
Fathers needed Family in the
community Hearing children
A helper is somebody who ....
Can listen to parents Feels empathy Is conscious of his own feelings
and willing to express them Accepts parents despite
their needs and expectations Gives positive reinfoircements
A helper is somebody who ....
Understands family problems Is a source of knowledge Is sensitive; recognises and helps to recognise
individual problems of the family Models parents’ behaviours Helps parents think in a realistic way
Evaluation? – Yes
Do not criticize. Do not judge.
Appreciate!
Think about yourself
• You as a helper are equally important
• Be aware of your possibilities
• Set the limits
• Communicate
in a constructive way
At the beginning of the family therapy
3 – 5 „obligatory” meetings with a psychologist
who is a therapist as well
in the group – 2-3 families
individual meetings – 1 family
Psychotherapy
Teaching parents
(psychological education)
normal development and normal psychological patterns
controlling human’s behaviour
self cognition and getting to know others
mechanisms of human actions
means of coping with various problems
supporting child’s development.
Psychoeducation means education
concerning
How can parents accept themselves How to believe in ones own capabilities How to perceive and express feelings, especially when the
feelings are difficult to cope with How to establish the parent – child relation How to communicate
What do we educate parents in?
„Cold knowledge” aquired intelectually to a much lesser degree influences the real
behaviour of a person than so called „hot knowledge” based on one’s own experience.
A very effective form of non-professional
counselling
30 – 40 meetings of support group for parents (a 1 year program)
should be the foundation of the therapy system for parents with
hearing impaired children
Support group for parents
What counts is not doing a lot
but putting a lot of love in what we do.
Mother Teresa from Calcutta
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION