Early intervention in the district of Hildesheim

Mobile specialist practice
for curative education – therapeutic and counselling support

31028 Gronau-Betheln
Graduate pedagogue Angela Streffing

A warm welcome!

Are you worried about your child? Your paediatrician or day care centre recommends early intervention because…

• there are developmental risks due to pregnancy and birth?
• problems are visible, e.g. in the areas of behaviour, learning, language?
• because your child has physical and / or mental limitations or a chronic illness to cope with?
• because he/she probably suffers from psychological problems and/or trauma?

I am here for you and look forward to your call or email!
Angela Streffing

Human image

Curative education practice

Curative education is a holistic concept in which educational and therapeutic support complement each other.
The development of a trusting relationship with the young person and also with his or her family system is the “good ground” for a successful process of my work.

Offers of my practice:

• Help with the application process
• Special education anamnesis and diagnostics
• Preparation of an individual support plan in accordance with ICF-CY
• Early remedial education up to the age of 6 / 7, or until school enrolment
• Support in the family home, in the immediate living environment in the kindergarden or
  in the practice room / Gronau-Betheln
• Support and counselling of caregivers
• Support in integrating the child into the day care centre and school
• Accompanying the child to important medical appointments
• Development and final reports

Contents of my curative education work:

• General child health and development promotion
• Development of self-confidence and a positive self-concept
• Promotion of ego development and self-efficacy
• Strengthening psychosocial competence, emotional self-regulation and impulse control
• Promotion of the individual sense of security
• Reduction of trauma reactions (e.g. fears, fight and flight reactions)
• Promotion of self-perception and perception of others
• Strengthening intrinsic motivation
• Promotion of psychomotor skills and body schema
• Reduction of self- and other-damaging behavioural strategies
• Help in coping with developmental tasks

Contents of my work with the family system:

Cooperation with you, as parents, foster parents and important caregivers, is important and meaningful in order to effectively support the child’s development in the long term, also in and through everyday family life. Professional information and a different perspective on the child and its situation can already achieve a lot:

• Information and counselling – child development issues, inclusion, current topics in early intervention…
• General educational counselling – developmental phases, conflicts…
• Systemic counselling – the problems of one family member always affect all the others.
• “Psychoeducation” – imparting scientific knowledge, e.g. about psychological, neurological, trauma-related connections, learning …
• Necessary networking with additional support systems / specialist areas

Interdisciplinary networking:

…that’s why I work beyond the scope of my practice – as needed – with other helpful people and institutions, e.g.:

• Social welfare office / youth welfare office / health office
• Paediatricians and specialists
• Psychological and psychiatric practices
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapists
• Speech therapists
• Day care centres
• Schools

Methods

Person-centred play therapy

“Play is the highest form of research.” (Albert Einstein) and also the child’s natural form of expression, even before language development.
The activity of playing arises from intrinsic motivation coming from within and is inseparably connected with the joy of variation, of fantasy, of self-efficacy, of process.
Play brings about holistic development in all areas, it enables the child to experience creativity, perception, intrapsychic processing, compensation, as well as interaction and relationship experiences in play with others.
In painting, role play, playing with figures… young people can express what they do not want to say with words or cannot yet say.
Other aspects of play therapy are:

• • curative play promotion in the case of limited ability to play
  • the “revival of play” as a family resource (Gammer 2007)

Language development / language initiation

This curative education area should always be seen in the context of the holistic development of communication (verbal and non-verbal) and social agency.
General communication development takes place through the stimulation of general joy of communication, through speech stimuli in and through play, stimulation of eye contact, use of simple language, “self-talking” (the adult names his own actions) and “parallel-talking” (the adult names the actions of the child), if necessary the use of picture cards (PECS) or signs (GUK)… Phonological awareness (language structure, melody, comprehension), vocabulary expansion and sentence formation are promoted through play.
The promotion of self-confidence, relaxation and the expression of the inner-psychic situation through play therapy offers must be given space especially in the following circumstances:

• in the case of speech impairments, e.g. due to a cleft palate, and increasing awareness of disorders according to age.
• in the case of speech fluency disorders, such as stuttering, which are more complex communication and interaction problems with social-emotional causes.

Psychomotor development

Following their natural need for movement is often not sufficiently possible for young people in our culture.
This also reduces their ability to relieve stress alone or in movement play with others, to develop a healthy body schema and confidence in their body and perception, as well as to experience their own strength and physical abilities.
This has unfortunate effects on developing self-confidence and self-awareness, agency, social and communication skills, etc. Movement activates and interconnects many areas of the brain, making it a natural, holistically effective therapy that is indispensable for learning and language development, among other things.

Curative education and art therapy services

The use of creative media and materials contains a great pedagogical-therapeutic potential through the following aspects:

• Materials encourage people to grasp them, to take action
• they are self-determined, self-effective activities
• stimulation of associations and own ideas
• all senses are addressed (visual, auditory, tactile, kinaesthetic, olfactory)
• fine motor, visual and sensory motor skills are stimulated
• the use of language is not compulsory, even children with language developmental delays can express themselves creatively.
• A joint creative process between the child and the teacher offers numerous possibilities for interaction in relation to relationships and actions.
• The horizon of experience can be broadened on many levels.

Traumasensible pedagogy

Prenatal psychology and psychotraumatology have long been established as scientific disciplines and their findings are evidence-based. However, the knowledge about this is still hardly taken into account in family and professional dealings with young people. It can be assumed that most people are traumatised several times – through “attachment”, “birth” and “developmental” traumas, with possible consequences for health and all areas of child development. Trauma and stress reactions are usually not recognised as such by the environment and are not understood. However, if one understands what emotional injury initially causes in the brain and in the long term with regard to child behaviour and development, symptoms can be recognised at an early stage and the children can be better “caught”. By establishing external security, by creating “safe places” at home, in the day care centre… the child can develop its inner security again..

Only on the basis of freedom from fear is learning and development possible at all, because fear blocks the brain areas responsible for it. For these reasons, the topic of “trauma” is an important part of my curative education work:

• Promoting the trauma sensitivity of caregivers with regard to the child’s needs for safety, stabilisation, reorientation, etc.
• Pedagogical-therapeutic play offers such as the promotion of emotional self-regulation, relaxation offers, etc.

Support for children with symptoms from the autism spectrum

Autism is a broad spectrum with different symptoms in varying degrees of severity and expression. Support in this spectrum, however, requires – just as with all children – flexibility, empathy, openness and the willingness to get to know the respective person, to experience and understand their needs.
Parents often reach their limits due to the behaviour of their affected children. Especially when there are other children in the family. Feelings of helplessness, being overwhelmed … are often a companion in everyday life and cost a lot of energy.
A trusting cooperation, a regular exchange and the implementation of structuring aids in everyday life are helpful and supportive.

The methodological approaches already mentioned above flow into the work with affected young people in a needs-based, situational and individual way, combined with content from autism-specific support, such as e.g.:

• TEACCH: Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren (understanding and learning with structuring aids)
• PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System (communication aids via visualisation)

Systemic counselling

In systemic therapy and counselling, a person’s situation is not viewed exclusively on an individual basis, but always in the context of their social systems (family, friends, daycare, school, work…).
The basis is the so-called “systemic attitude”, which is characterised by neutrality and resource orientation. The aim is thus always to promote the existing abilities and competences of the individual, as well as those of his or her social environment.

about me

Professional activity:

• in various pedagogical / socio-pedagogical fields of work:
  Kindergarten, play park, after-school care, refugee home
  in specialist practices for child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy:
• Diagnostics, educational counselling, individual and group therapy, crisis intervention
• Own practice: psychotherapy and counselling
• Seminar leader “non-violent communication” for educators
• curative early intervention and socio-pedagogical family assistance

Inclusion and participation

The aim of the concept of “inclusion” is the social participation of all people in the sense of the Basic Law (GG), the Social Code (SGB) and the Federal Participation Act (BTHG). This is also the declared task of curative early intervention for young people.

Children have a legal entitlement to early intervention

• from 0 – 6 / 7 years (until school enrolment)
• with developmental delays and behavioural problems lasting longer than 6 months
• with impending disabilities according to §2(2) SGB
• with an existing disability
• with an already identified need for support

Affected children should be supported in their self-confidence and their ability to actively engage with themselves and their environment. Disabilities should be counteracted in order to ensure their long-term participation in society and a self-determined life. They have a right to holistic support, oriented towards the various areas of development:

• Social-emotional competence
• Communication and language
• Cognition
• Independence and play behaviour
• Motor skills (gross and sensory motor skills, fine and visual motor skills)

Request and costs

Early remedial education is free of charge for you as parents, the costs are borne by the district or the city of Hildesheim.
If you wish, I will be happy to help you with the relevant application – informally or by form.
The following offices are responsible, depending on where you live:

Landkreis Hildesheim
Amt für Teilhabe und Reha
Marie-Wagenknecht-Str. 3
31134 Hildesheim

Stadt Hildesheim
Bereich Teilhabe und Reha
Hannoversche Str. 6
31134 Hildesheim

Quality assurance

To ensure the quality and further development of my work, I use the following measures:

• Support planning and updating according to ICF-CY
• Ongoing developmental observation and support documentation
• Development and final reports
• Further training
• Supervision
• Updating the range of services and the concept
• Client evaluation
• Membership in the BHP Berufs- und Fachverband Heilpädagogik e.V. (Professional Association for Curative Education)