Development Services

Our work centers around the principles of Conductive Education. CE is a training programme with a functional approach to teaching children and adults skills to help them gain increased independence in activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, feeding and general mobility. It is a holistic approach, aiming to integrate one’s physical, intellectual, social, emotional and speech development.

The CE programme of the Home was established with the aim of involving childcare workers in the holistic development of the children, instead of purely relying on a few professional therapists, who could not have a considerable impact on the development of the large number of children in the Home. After all, it is the childcare workers who spend the most time with the children, assisting them in activities of daily living, and this time allows them the opportunity to teach the children new skills that will increase their independence.

Due to financial constraints, we are currently unable to employ full-time therapists. However, our volunteer initiative has seen the Home benefit from the services of a number of overseas professionals, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and psycho-motor therapists, who stay with us for about 6 months each and work intensively with our children

We have also established a vocational programme for our more able young adults, not only so that they can learn essential skills for work and the fundamentals of money, but also to gain self-esteem and independence. Besides regular placements in our kitchen and laundry, we have also built vegetable gardens, which are maintained by our residents, parents, childcare workers and the greater community.

Focusing on the needs of the children with profound disabilities, we also offer a programme, called Multisensory Storytelling, which aims to engage children involving all of their senses and provide them with one-on-one special attention from their caregivers. Our childcare workers have also been trained in the basics of infant massage and they integrate this technique into the children’s daily therapeutic programme. We have recently introduced a further programme, called Cognitive Play, which was developed for us by the Utrecht University and aims to improve our children’s cognitive skills through structured play interventions.

We also have a relatively well equipped workshop, where we maintain, repair, refurbish and adapt wheelchairs and various other positioning and assistive devices. Throughout the years and with the help of professionals from the Hoogstraat Rehabilitation Centre (NL), we have learnt to carry out these jobs on our own, as we cannot afford the costly services provided by external suppliers.

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