Tools of the early care counselor in social work with families of children with hearing impairment in the Czech Republic

Early childhood intervention in the Czech Republic was created on the basis of a discussion of experts from the health, pedagogical and social area. The question was what should be the result of the efforts of all experts dealing with early support of a child with a disability. The consensus was that the child was supported as much as possible, naturally included in the social environment (that is, primarily families, peer groups and educational institutions, in the place where the child lives). We can achieve such a result only if we sufficiently support the child’s family.

At the end of the 1990s, Tamtam also signed up to the social concept of early intervention, as a provider of services to people with hearing impairment. All of our work with families is aimed at parents gaining the competence to raise their child with hearing impairment, understanding their needs, but at the same time maintaining the ability to use commonly available activities for themselves and their children.

We consider the very beginning of social work with the family to be a crucial moment in the support of a young child with hearing impairment. We devote enough space and attention to clarifying our offer and finding an intersection with the parents’ expectations. The parents are the first to state the need to develop their child. Our experience shows that it is not possible to fulfill this requirement without taking an interest in and jointly naming the needs of parents and other family members. They need to understand the whole situation, find their way around it, and share their concerns and questions about the consequences of the hearing impairment on their child’s future development. Therefore, as part of the start of the service, we place emphasis on describing the child’s current hearing abilities and clarifying their impact on communication. Not being able to use normal ways of communicating with a deaf child makes them feel insecure about their natural parenting skills.

From all these concerns and questions, topics of cooperation between the family and the early care advisor are formulated. Social work using a systemic approach makes it possible to gradually fulfill individual needs and achieve the goals of the service and the resulting competencies of the family in which a child with a hearing impairment grows up. How we understand social work in Early Care Tamtam will be presented on various examples of the use of individual tools of an Early Care consultant.