CIVIL SOCIETY: 269 PRACTICES
AMIMONI is a Panhellenic Association of Parents of Visually Impaired Children with Additional Handicaps. Today it operates 4 programs for blind people with additional handicap.
Read more: www.amimoni.gr
The Early Intervention program has been developed in order to cover the complete absence of any Service from the moment the infant in the family has been diagnosed with visual impairments with or without additional handicaps. The program aims at the promotion of the development and wellbeing of the child, support of child caregiver relationship, education and promotion of all aspects of development including functional residual vision, perception of body, tactile and auditory Perception, orientation & mobility, gross and fine motor mobility, self-help skills. Assistance and consultation to the families is a major part of the intervention program which is offered to the parents in private sessions.
The program is offered to children with visual impairment (completely blind or visually impaired) with or without additional handicaps, aged from birth to 6 years and to their families in the area of Attiki and to children from birth to 10 years old in other areas of Greece. Most of the children have multiple disabilities and CVI due to perinatal and postnatal brain damage. Training, evaluation and induction services are offered to other professional and experts that work with visually impaired children (kindergarten teachers, other special therapists.)
Early Intervention program has been provided since 2004 in Attiki. However the program has been extended to the rest of Greece on a permanent basis the last three years.
The service is offered via weekly home visits, from specialized therapists to visually impaired children from birth up to 6 years old and their families in their own home environment. The Program consists on the evaluation of the residual and functional vision of the child and the development of the intervention educational plan. Visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation, along with vestibular and proprioceptive stimulation are offered to children in a form of interactive or structured games with the participation of parents. The family receives specialized equipment, which is designed and produced tailor made to the intervention plan developed for the specific needs of the child and family. Assistance and consultation to the families is a major part of the intervention program which is offered to the parents in private sessions. Toys and specific equipment and recommendations are given to the families together with detailed activities to be performed on a weekly basis.
Beyond the Attika area, the service is performed as follows: Informative and evaluation visits are performed on a prescheduled basis and upon request and they are followed by consultation and training of the family or the professionals working with the child. An education plan is developed and appropriate equipment is provided. Upon request the program continuous via Skype sessions on a weekly or bi-monthly basis.
Children receiving early intervention services are optimizing the functional vision and tactual functions, develop in the best possible extend autonomous leaving and consequently may be assisted in their future education. In the same time, children-parents relation becomes substantially supported and parents acquire important tools and methodology for assisting their own child development. The effectiveness of the program in each case is performed through observation and record tracking instruments during the whole duration of intervention program. Currently the team of special therapist, together with other experts in related scientific fields, is developing an innovative evaluation system with measurable outcomes. 130 children and their families have received services during the last 3 years. Numerous institutions all over Greece and professionals have been trained or have been introduced to the methods of the program.
The Program is implemented via weekly home-visits of 1,5 Hour in the Area of Attiki. In other regions of Greece on site visits are performed upon request on a prescheduled basis, followed by weekly or bimonthly sessions via Skype for families outside Attiki.
Prescheduled visits for education and evaluation purposes are also implemented to institutions and professionals all over Greece, wherever it is requested.
Amymoni and the Early Intervention Program are continuously supported by the Blindeninstitute
in Germany. The cooperation was originally based on the transfer of knowhow and has evolved to the exchange of good practices among the two institutions. Similar to the above is the cooperation with GAPAS, "La Pepiniere" in France, Lyon. Presently, Amymoni is jointly implementing European mobility programs on adult education with this last institution.
In Greece our team is organizing prescheduled visits in order to present the early intervention program, assist and train professionals and experts working with blind and visually impaired children working to institutions all over Greece. Since 2005 9 institutions and many professionals have been trained or have been introduced to the methods of the program.
In addition, the Early Intervention Team, lately cooperates with three universities (England, Romania & Greece)and 5 European bodies, within the framework of the program ERASMUS+ : «Promoting Effective Communication for Individuals with a Vision Impairment and Multiple Disabilities» (PrECIVIM).
The project includes the training of specialized therapists-trainers, on how to evaluate and educate communication skills in MDVI children. The evaluation and intervention of PrECIVIM underlines the need to assess communication skills for the development of tailor-made educational approaches, the use of appropriate educational material and the play activities to promote children's communication skills with MDVI.
Is also member of the EASPD network (European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities).
The team consists of psychologists (specialized in early intervention with MDVI children), and Bobath NDT/SIT occupational therapist, orientation and mobility expert, social worker, speech therapist and child psychiatrist.
Amimoni is a Pan-Hellenic Association of Parents and Friends of Visually impaired People with additional handicaps based in Athens, offering a day care program and programs of supported living to these people. The Program of Early Intervention is an exclusive service in Greece that has extended the range of services to infants, preschoolers and their families, as well as to professionals all over Greece who work with visually impaired children with or without additional handicaps. The expertise developed over the years related to children and multihandicap people with visual impairments is unique in our country. Amimoni, is constantly developing innovative practices, reach for networking and exchange of good practices with other European institutions and strives to facilitate and extend access to the program of the concerned population all over Greece.
