Children and youth
We offer specialised services to support and equip children and youth to develop into independent and self confident adults.
The services are tailored to meet the specific needs of a child within their family. The service often firstly includes listening to and counselling parents and other family members. Our staff work with the parents to create a safe and confidential forum.
When a child is first registered as a member, a child and family social worker meets the parents or caregivers and complete a needs assessment. This is to discuss how the child and the family can be best supported. A referral is then made to our other member services or to appropriate outside agencies or professionals.
Our child and family social workers remain the key point of contact, and:
- provide information about benefit entitlements
- support access to trust funds for additional financial support
- liaise with the Ministry of Education's specialised teachers and specialised sensory or visual resource centres
- provide advocacy for parents and children
- attend individual education programmes at schools
- invite the child to attend peer support activities we offer and
- introduce parents to other support networks
Our child and family social workers adhere to a professional code of ethics. They are located throughout New Zealand to work with our child members up to the age of 18 or 21 depending on the needs of the child.
Developmental adaptive daily living
Developmental adaptive daily living refers to everyday activities undertaken by a blind or those with low vision from birth to 21 years of age.
The service includes one-to-one intervention, parent and family training and group sessions. Areas that are focused on are motor skills (e.g. sitting, crawling, standing, walking, balance, posture and stability, use of hands, coordination); sensory skills (e.g. use of vision, touch, hearing, smell, movement); personal care skills (e.g. personal hygiene, grooming, dressing, eating); and household management (e.g. cleaning, shopping, cooking, money management, household repairs).
Children and young people can be referred to the service by family or caregivers, our child and family social workers, pre-school and school staff and other professionals.
Developmental orientation and mobility
This service teaches blind and those children and young people with low vision about purposeful movement and an understanding of the environment in an age- and developmentally-appropriate manner.
From an orientation perspective children learn:
- how to use sensory systems to interact with the world
- about their body, its boundaries and how they relate to other people and objects in the environment
- about the world around them, including objects and people, and how these objects and people relate to each other and
- how to use this understanding to problem solve and interact within the world while moving through it
And in terms of mobility:
- how to develop voluntary movement
- how to develop organised movement for a desired outcome
- how to refine this movement and
- to increase movement complexity and to use equipment to aid movement
For more information, please contact your local service manager or call us on 0800 24 33 33.
