Early care is provided to children from birth to 7 years of age. Parents can contact EDUCO and establish a relationship whenever they feel it necessary during this period of time. The early care service is provided in the form of home visits, i.e. the consultant visits the family with the parent and his/ her child at their home or in a natural environment for the child.
EDUCO is a non-profit non-governmental organization which is authorized to provide social services to the extent specified by law No.108 / 2006 On Social Services, § 54, by generally binding regulations and by other internal regulations. The service provided is free of charge.
EDUCO’s mission is to provide professional assistance and support to families with children with disabilities from birth to 7 years of age. We help children and their families in their natural environment, in order to strengthen their autonomy and independence from social assistance. We operate in the county of Zlin.
Objectives of EDUCO
- To achieve the greatest possible development of abilities and skills within the child in their natural home environment.
- To guide the families through adverse situations and help them achieve their independence.
- To increase awareness of early care services
Our target group is families with children from birth to 7 years of age, with a child having any of the following conditions: disability or difficulties in development, children with mental, physical, multiple disabilities, autism, children born prematurely (in combination with sensory disabilities, if the sensory disability is not decisive for their development).
Services
- Family support, Family guidance in the early ages of the child
- Promoting a child’s development, providing practical and professional advice for work, play and communicating with the child, methodical guidance for parents
- Rental services: Toy Library, teaching and compensatory aids, literature
- Social and legal counseling, school counseling, assistance in liaising with authorities and institutions, accompanying
- Mediation of contacts (family, institutions, professionals)
- Joint activities (seminars for parents, family meetings, …)
EDUCO is a certified workplace for Basal Stimulation and the Association of Workers in Early Intervention guarantees its quality of early care services.
How does it work?
- Family consultations are governed by your requirements and at the same time, they are in accordance with the possibilities of EDUCO (ie. dependent on staffing and operating times). They follow the binding rules of early intervention services.
- You can choose the frequency of consultations (usually every 4-8 weeks). You can change the consultation frequency depending on your needs (about once every 3 weeks) eg. for the period of the first six months of service.
- During the early intervention services, you can also benefit from the telephone consultations, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on working days.
- Every family consultation takes an average of 2 – 3 hours, the minimum length depends on your wishes.
- Consultations may also take place on an outpatient basis at the EDUCO premises in Zlin. It is not possible to use only outpatient consultations.
- The consultant writes a report from every consultation. This report contains all information which you voluntarily share and which is crucial for the services provided.
- During the consultation, you can choose toys and aids which you can borrow free of charge to promote your work with the child at home. The work itself and the toys and aids should always be appropriate for the current situation and needs of the child.
What to do if you are interested in the services?
If you are interested in early care services, you can:
- Call us on +420 739 777 729
- Send us an e-mail to ranapece.zlin@volny.cz or send us a message through our website in the Contacts section.
- Visit us personally at EDUCO from Monday to Friday from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.
Program Portage
What is a Program Portage?
The Portage Method offers easy and professional help for children with special needs in their development which respects each child´s individuality. Each early care consultant in EDUCO is also a Portage consultant. If you work as an early care consultant you could use this Portage Method too. All Portage consultations are undertaken at home environment like ordinary consultations and all family members can join offered activities. It is importat to mention that you can not deliver this service without two important areas. The first one is establishing cooperation with the parents – which is nessasary for all-round stimulation of the child. The other area is supporting the whole family – which targets optimal environment condition for child´s development.
Who can use the benefits of the Portage Method?
The Portage Method can bring benefits to families with children with special needs from their birth to their age of six. It also can be delivered to children with severe disability to year twelve or longer.The Portage Method brings system and order to your cooperation with families. Children´s development is supported in five basic areas which are – motor skills, selfcare, speech, knowledge and socialization. If you need more information, please feel free to contact your early care consultant or our specialist Mrs. Jana Čelůstková.
Team Around the Child
What is a Team Around the Child?
The Centre of Early Care EDUCO Zlín started using a new method of interdisciplinary collaboration called Team Around the Child in 2017. EDUCO adopted this method from Peter Limbrick from the UK and continue developing and adapting it to meet the needs of Czechs. EDUCO offers the Team Around the Child approach to families with children with disabilities. The method has received excellent feedback from families and professionals. It is a successful and enriching experience and all of EDUCO’s consultants would like to spread it and make it accessible to as many families as possible.
The Team Around the Child makes a special connection between the professionals from health, education and social services. The consultant brings together professionals from all three sectors, along with the parents, to a round-table meeting. The magic of this method is to organize a meeting of parents and professionals who jointly draw up the support plan for the child.
EDUCO launched the Team Around the Child method as a pilot project in 2017. The parents who have been involved so far appreciate its comprehensive approach. “I returned home after the Team Around the Child first meeting, taking with me a more complete picture of what I could do with my son. It was a deeply reassuring experience. It was great to sit at a table with all the professionals we visit and hear the information in its complexity,” said little Honzik’s mother after the TAC meeting.
How can my family attend a Team Around the Child?
All families which are EDUCO’s clients can be supported by a Team Around the Child. The family communicates its interest to its early care consultant, who will provide all the necessary information.