Course of the early intervention service

How to become a user of the service?
How will the cooperation between you and the early intervention counsellor look like?
In which aspects can we help and support you?
How can you provide a feedback?
Contact information

Basic principles of the service

Partnership approach
We offer our clients the necessary range of information so that they are able to make qualified and responsible decisions about them and their hearing impaired child. We take the parents of kids with hearing disabilities as valid members of the multidisciplinary team that plans, implements and assesses the progress of their children’s care.

Home environment
We try to respect the natural environment of the family and the kid, which is why we primarily provide our service directly in the families. In our work we use as many natural tools and methods and possible. We honor the normal operation and rhythm of the family.

Independence
We understand independence in two layers. The first layer is about our own independence as experts on the issue of children’s hearing, independent of other agents. Thanks to this we can provide our clients with an impartial and high-quality evaluation of their situation as well as recommendations and our services.

The second layer is about encouraging parents and their children to use their own sources to handle the situation they find themselves in. We try to prevent dependence on the social system.

The service of our field workers is provided for free. Thanks to that we can offer it to any family in need, regardless of its income.

Inter-disciplinary cooperation
We’re aware of the fact that an effective and high-quality care for hearing impaired children requires a multidisciplinary approach. That’s why we try to create teams comprising of both our in-house workers and outside specialists and parents. Owing to that we can ensure a complex care for the child.

How to become a user of the service?

After an introductory consultation in the family you will be sent an invitation with a date for your initial consultation at the workplace of the provider, together with an entry questionnaire and possibly other pre-arranged materials. If need be, the family can be granted an exception and undertake the initial consultation in the family. During this consultation, we will discuss and possibly fill in an on-line questionnaire which you will then send back no later than two days prior to the planned date of your initial consultation. Based on this questionnaire, we’ll be able to make your case more accurate and better word the first cooperation agreement.

We’ll perform an indicative hearing test on the child – a functional examination of the hearing function in the form of a free field visual reinforcement audiometry.

At the end of the consultation we’ll conclude an individualized contract on the provision of early intervention field service. You will receive the model contract during your introductory consultation. When concluding the contract, we will verify your identity and your family relationship with the child (ID, birth certificate of the child). The contract is concluded in writing, done in duplicate, where one copy stays at the provider’s workplace and one is given to the user. The contract will be signed by a worker authorized by the statutory representative (usually the head of the service or other authorized individual) who will walk you through all the terms of the service. The contract shall take effect at the time of its signature by both contracting parties.

How will the cooperation between you and the early intervention counsellor look like?

What exactly you’ll be focusing on with your counsellor, which areas are the most important to you, what you expect and what you wish to achieve is what you’ll be regularly discussing with your counsellor.

We are aware that it’s difficult for both parents to be always present during the consultation and it is not even necessary. We do, however, find it important that both parents have enough information about the goals and progress of the provided service and that both can contribute to those and decide on them. That’s why we sometimes try to tailor our time schedules to your needs so that you can both be present. As a general rule though the presence of at least one of the service users mentioned in the contract is always necessary for a consultation to take place.

Every consultation has its own goal and a pre-agreed content of what we want to achieve together in those 1.5 to 3 hours. We can only be successful in achieving those goals when there are suitable conditions for our activities, which is why we kindly ask you to provide such conditions, especially by being ready for the consultation (both you and your child) and eliminating any disruptive elements such as a turned-on TV, unsecured pets or presence of people we have not previously agreed on. The state of health of you and your child is also important as a flu or any other contagious disease will not make a consultation possible, in order to protect other clients to whom we provide our service.

Mutual respect between you, the parents, and the early intervention counsellors is taken for granted and it primarily means following the common rules of conduct and communication such as being on formal terms with each other and restraining yourself from vulgarities and drug abuse during the time of the consultation.

During the course of our cooperation, you and your counsellor will talk about various topics and areas of interest that will arise. Your short-term and long-term goals, visions and the possible ways of achieving them will be written down in the cooperation agreement (individual plan) which is usually valid for one year. We will then together fulfil the objectives of this plan during our consultations but also via e-mail, phone calls and other activities. At the end of the given period we’ll assess the course of our cooperation and will discuss further course of action. If new topics arise during the year, you can arrange an update of your agreement with your counsellor. If the goals of our cooperation are fulfilled and there are no new goals that you would like to achieve with the early intervention service, we’ll suggest terminating the provision of our services.

These are the consultations where we really want both parents to be present. An active cooperation and realization of your own share in solving the situation is the basic condition for successfully handling the situation.

Despite the fact that by law you and your child can be provided an early intervention service up to your children’s 7^th birthday, that is usually not the case with our service. We try to support you, help you get accustomed to the new situation and get a grasp of it especially at the beginning, so that you can later manage it all by yourself, without help and assistance. That’s why our service is provided no longer than necessary, usually for a period of 3 to 4 years.

CONTRACT FOR THE PROVISION OF EARLY INTERVENTION – EXAMPLE.

In which aspects can we help and support you?

1) Getting oriented in a difficult and unknown situation:

• topics: hearing, its development and rehabilitation, hearing aids and cochlear implants, audiometric testing, explaining child’s audiology results, prospects for the future, literature, education,
• support and accompaniment, crisis intervention, adapting the family’s functioning to your child’s needs, change of your communication style, seeking resources within your family and your surroundings,
• familiarization with the services and specialists that you will most probably need (phoniatrics, speech therapy, rehabilitation), learning about the common and recommended frequency of those services, contact details of specialists,
• the financial burden related to taking care of a hearing impaired child, cost of assistive devices, intensity and frequency of audiological rehabilitation, time requirements for working with a hearing impaired child beyond the ordinary daily routine.

2) Strengthening parental competences:

• sccepting a handicapped child both by the immediate family and by the community, hearing impaired child’s development specifics, speech development, possible ways of communicating with your child, choosing the right means of communication, regular assessment of its development and proposing modifications, intuitive parenthood, upbringing, developing your child’s independence,
• fulfilling individual needs of all members of your family, caring for other children in the family and their needs, information on genetic hearing loss and related questions, relationships and extended family relations, ties to the place of residence and its cultivation, information for people outside the immediate family.

3) Facilitating contact between your family and the social environment

• programs and events for families with hearing impaired children, social activization service for families, sojourns, contact details of other families with hearing impaired children, communication and sign language courses, opportunity to use other types of early intervention services,
• information on preschools and schools, follow-up service in the place of residence, respite care, post-early intervention services, contact with the special education centers.

4) Mediating the child’s contact with its social environment

• supporting your child’s communication skills, speech models that you can provide, signs and non-verbal communication, vocalizing your child, development of understanding and active speech, choosing suitable communication strategies,
• diaries, calendars, pictures, alternative communication strategies,
• social contacts of your child in the immediate and extended family and with its peers, programs and events for children, sojourns for families,
• teaching your child independence and social inclusion, activities for both hearing impaired kids and their hearing peers.

5) Fostering self-actualization of kids:

• choosing preschools and schools, preparation for its start and arranging conditions for your child’s placement, indicative assessment of the child’s development level and monitoring its placement in (pre)school, assistance to all those participating in the child’s placement,
• your own view of the child’s capabilities, both its limits and its potential, after-school activities, games, clubs, suggesting activities.

6) Daily activities of childcare:

• hearing aid and cochlear implants care, keeping both the ear and the assistive devices clean, contact details for service, solving technical problems with the assistive devices,
• handling and operating hearing aids or cochlear implants (of kids and adults), putting in on, securing it, helping overcome the period of getting used to the assistive device, information on what a child can do at what age, establishing suitable rituals for using the devices, sharing tested procedures and good examples from real life,
• food, chewing, swallowing, social habits and independence during eating, establishing rituals for eating, information on proper child nutrition with regard to their age and state of health, information on the assistive devices, contact details of further specialists.

7) Child’s independent movement, hearing orientation:

• physiological development and current capabilities of your child given its development level, suitable motor development aids, contact details of specialists, accompaniment,
• use of assistive devices in your home environment, practice and games on household sounds recognition and orientation,
• using assistive devices outside home, outdoors sound recognition, information on what a child can master at different ages.

8) Child health care:

• mediating contact details of specialists (phoniatrics, speech therapy, neurology etc.),
• communication with pediatrician and other doctors,
• safety issues related to the use of assistive devices (batteries), aids to secure safe movement of your child outdoors or in a group of other children (e.g. wireless technologies).

9) Application of rights and legitimate interests of the family and child:

• welfare state support, donations and funds, municipal financial aid, assistance in making applications, accompaniment to state authorities and offices,
• your rights and your child’s rights in the area of health care, education, professional opportunities for parents, contact with both parents, decent living conditions, protection against the adverse effects of upbringing on the child’s development.

How can you provide a feedback?

The early intervention service is nearly always provided through individual consultations in the home environment of the families. It is thus all the more important for us to receive an evaluation from you, that is your view of the service you get from us and of you and your counsellor’s cooperation. That’s why during the provision of our service we may ask you to fill in a feedback evaluation questionnaire that will either be sent to your e-mail address or, after prior consultations regarding a convenient time for you, we’ll give you a call. Please take our requests for evaluation seriously and try to give us an open and candid expression of your view of the provided service. Your answers are an important guidance for further progress and improvement of the service but mainly it allows us to respond to your suggestions, incentives or objections in such a way that our service can be provided, in accordance with our standards and rules, in the best way possible.

If dissatisfied with the provided early intervention service or if you have a suggestion for its improvement, you can also make a complaint – in person or via chosen representatives – by word of mouth (during consultations or in the service’s office), by phone, e-mail, post, anonymously (by post or directly in the box located in the building Tamtam) or else via the online form on our website.

All of the complaints, suggestions and objections are passed to the head of Early Intervention Bohemia Mgr. Martina Péčová (phone number: +420 251 510 744, e-mail: _.py.Z4WHmnw-Zc4Ys) and to the head of Early Intervention Moravia and Silesia Mgr. Anna Kučerová, PhD. (phone number: +420 739 642 677, e-mail: kucerova@tamtam.cz). Records of every complaint, suggestion or objection are also kept in the Book of Complaints and Book of Suggestions, placed in the office of Tamtam. Information on the disposition of a complaint are sent to the complainant within the deadline by mail. If you’re not happy with the outcome of the disposition, you can appeal to the director of our organization Mgr. Jana Fenclová (phone number: +420 603 710 748, e-mail: ~.qs-3bcW7c--ZclWfkmb).

In case of further dissatisfaction, you can appeal to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the ombudsman or the main office of the Czech Helsinki Committee. You can request the full version of the internal rules for complaint management from your counsellor or it can be found (together with other documents) on this website.

Contact information

Raná péče Čechy / Early intervention Bohemia
Centrum pro dětský sluch Tamtam, o. p. s.
Hábova 1571, 155 00 Praha 5 – Stodůlky
Phone number: +420 251 510 744, +420 734 235 687
E-mail: ranapececechy@tamtam.cz

Head of the Service:
Mgr. Martina Péčová
E-mail: pecova@tamtam.cz
Phone number: +420 732 918 406

First contact worker:
Mgr. Štěpánka Kolková
E-mail: kolkova@tamtam.cz
Phone number: +420 734 235 683

Raná péče pro Moravu a Slezsko / Early intervention Moravia and Silesia
Centrum pro dětský sluch Tamtam, o. p. s.
Jungmannova 25, 779 00 Olomouc
Phone number: +420 739 642 677; +420 733 181 497
E-mail: ranapecemorava@tamtam.cz

Raná péče pro Moravu a Slezsko – branch office Zlín
Třída 3. května 325, 763 02 Zlín – Malenovice
Phone number and email adress is identical with the information above.

Head of the Service:
Mgr. Anna Kučerová, Ph.D.
E-mail: kucerova@tamtam.cz
Phone number: +420 739 642 677

Usefull contants for all our workers can be found in this section.