Early Encouragement: Benefit for the Whole Family

01.02.2007

Whether Down's Syndrome, impaired hearing or motor skills: early encouragement deals with all development disorders in young children. At the Centre for Early Encouragement St. Paulus-Stift in Landau, Germany, affected children are treated. The leading doctor, Dr Karl-Heinz Spörkmann, is speaker for early encouragement of Rhineland-Palatinate. On his way to the next medical examination he spared some time to talk with REHACARE.de.

Dr Spörkmann, what does "early encouragement” mean?

Early encouragement means to encourage children as soon as possible until they get enrolled in school. It offers help to children to compensate existing disabilities or at least to lessen them.


Which children benefit from early encouragement?

These are children who show a notable delay of development compared to peers, for example concerning their movements or speech.

Can children be healed by early encouragement?

In cases of disabilities like the Down's Syndrome children can never be healed completely. However, with a therapy they can to develop better than previously believed concerning their motion or speech. And through these measures they may exploit their full potential. Early encouragement is always useful - especially if parents are trained and supported. The whole family can therefore benefit from early encouragement.


Is it possible to provide too much early encouragement?

If you ask too much of a child. In such cases you notice that it suddenly secludes itself, does not want to eat, gets edgy or cries a lot. At St. Paulus-Stift we never treat a child with more than two therapies, as for example speech or ergo therapy, because every time it has to deal with new contact persons. In a treatment plan targets are defined. Sometimes even specialists have to revise them. And parents have certain ideas of how their child will develop. First of all they have to realise that it is disabled.


How do you find out if a child needs early encouragement?

General preventive medical checkups at the paediatrician notice if something is wrong in the child's development. There are standardised methods. You can say that a child learns walking at the age of one or one and a half. If a child is developing much slower steps for early encouragement are necessary and it needs to be determined until when the child should be able to do certain things.

To whom parents can refer to for early encouragement?

If the paediatrician finds out that something is wrong he proposes what has to be done. He writes a referral for the early encouragement centres. The parents can also call the centres directly.

How are parents involved into the therapies?

Strongly, because parents are very important for the development of the child and the therapist cannot substitute their part. The therapists explain in their sessions, which often take place once a week, why parents have to be particularly patient with their child. And they get a kind of homework like exercises which they do with the child at home. Or it is shown how parents can arrange the environment of their child.

What should parents not do?

There a lot of offers which are rather dubious like holy water or drops which promise improvement within three weeks. And for these unrealistic promises worried parents have to spend a lot of money. They should better listen to their feelings and enable their child to get an accepted, expedient therapy.

Where can parents get information about early encouragement?

There are round about 280 early encouragement centres in the Federal Republic of Germany which can be found easily on the internet or in the telephone book.

REHACARE.de

- Click here for examples of early encouragement