I.P.I. - Early Childhood Intervention
Nature of “Bem-Crescer” Early Childhood Intervention.
The "Bem-Crescer" Early Childhood Intervention (I.P.I.) program is a community-integrated social response that aims to provide child- and family-centered support through preventive and rehabilitative actions in the fields of education, health, and social action.
Target Audience
I.P.I. is directed towards children aged 0 to 6 years and their families who exhibit alterations (or are at risk of alterations) in body functions or structures that limit individual and social development and participation in age-appropriate activities within their social context.
Family Contributions
The I.P.I. is a completely free service for the children and families it supports.
How to Refer Cases to the I.P.I.
Any entity or individual can refer cases to the I.P.I. by using the Referral Form - SNIPI (http://www.arsalgarve.min-saude.pt/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/12/Ficha_de_Referenciacao_snipi.pdf).
The Referral Form can be sent to the local Health Center, to the Institution Amigos dos Pequeninos (Largo 1º de Maio, 8300 – 116 Silves), or to the I.P.I. team email: terapeutasbemcrescer@amigosdospequeninos.com. For more information, you can contact us at 967 635 963.
Areas Covered by Early Childhood Intervention:
Social Support
Social Diagnosis: Assessing family potential, family dynamics, identifying needs, evaluating economic and housing situations, and mapping formal and informal support networks, as well as local social resources.
Family Support: Providing regular follow-up interviews, home visits, and visits to educational establishments or other contexts, guiding families, and emphasizing their crucial role in the child's rehabilitation process.
Community Resources: Informing, guiding, and referring families to community resources while acting as a mediator with other services (education, health, social security, municipalities).
Interpersonal Relationships: Facilitating the development of interpersonal and group relationships, empowering families to assume new roles, and helping them solve their own problems to promote autonomy and participation.
Social Intervention Plans: Developing social intervention plans in collaboration with the technical team.
Educational Support
Special Education: The work of the special education teacher focuses on training specific academic skills, such as fine motor skills for painting and writing activities, cognitive stimulation for shape recognition, and promoting concentration; language training through storytelling activities; functional problem-solving; understanding classroom and social rules; and encouraging autonomy.
Physiotherapy
Child Development: Physiotherapy focuses on evaluating, intervening, and preventing psychomotor and neuromusculoskeletal developmental issues. Its goal is to develop the child's needs and specifics in partnership with the family, ensuring that the child enjoys their childhood and future stages with the best quality while integrating into the community.
Play-Based Sessions: Assessments and interventions are conducted through play, focusing on stimulating the child's development.
Speech Therapy
Communication Disorders: Speech therapy activities aim at the prevention, assessment, and treatment of communication, language, speech, oro-facial motricity, swallowing/eating, and associated functions.
Areas of Intervention:
-
Communication – verbal and non-verbal communication;
-
Language– oral and written language;
-
Speech – articulation, resonance, voice, breathing, prosody, and fluency;
-
Oro-facial Motricity – muscles involved in sucking, breathing, chewing, swallowing, and articulation;
-
Swallowing/Eating – naddressing the phases of this process – oral and pharyngeal phases.
All interventions are carried out in the child's natural context, using playful activities to promote communication development.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy addresses various sensory-motor, cognitive, psychological, and psychosocial problems that manifest in children as difficulties in different performance areas (Activities of Daily Living, Productive Activities, and Leisure).
Emphasizing the development of skills that allow the child to play, communicate, and relate appropriately and effectively with others.
Interventions often utilize play and recreational activities as working tools and can center on different therapeutic approaches (psychomotor, sensory integration, cognitive-behavioral, assistive technologies) based on the individual child's needs, motivations, interests, and family priorities to develop maximum autonomy in personal, social, and school life.
Psychology
Child and Family-Centered Support: Psychological support in Early Intervention focuses on the child and family in a preventive and adaptive manner, ensuring conditions that facilitate the child’s development.
Clinical and Natural Assessments: Evaluations are conducted in both clinical and natural contexts, gathering information from parents and educators about the child's development across various levels: mental functions, psychosocial aspects, and family dynamics.
Playful Activities: Interventions involve playful activities (games and play) to promote mental functions (memory, attention/concentration, perception, reasoning, intelligence, communication, emotional and social skills).