Parents and children

In September, we received a call from the Jordanian office of the World Health Organization asking if we were willing to collaborate with them on a pilot trial of a program aimed at parents of children with developmental delays or disabilities.
A few weeks later we attended the presentation workshop of this program, together with representatives of the ministries of health, education and social development and various organizations and associations dealing with disabilities, especially in the age group 0-6 years. In fact, the Caregiver Skills Training (CST) program was devised by WHO to accompany parents of children with developmental delays or disabilities, who often experience high levels of discomfort and struggle to find adequate and continuous services. for their children.
The program uses an approach that focuses on the role of the family and is designed to be done by people who have previously been trained, but who do not necessarily have to be specialists, in order to work alongside the network of health and social services for children and their families.
It consists of group meetings and individual home visits, with the aim of teaching parents how to make play and home routines learning and development opportunities for their children.

The first experiments carried out by WHO in other countries have given excellent results, especially in making children more independent and this program has been an important tool during the time of the pandemic to accompany the many families who have find yourself taking charge of their children, without being able to access services anymore. The experimentation of the program has already begun in various countries of the world, adapting it to different social and cultural contexts and now we want to try to introduce it also in Jordan.

Thus four of our specialists, together with those of another center for disabled children, were involved in this pilot phase of experimentation and adaptation of the program.
They have followed the training course held by WHO specialists and will soon begin to conduct the meetings here in the Arsenal. This unexpected occasion made us thank so much: first of all because it gave us a precious tool that allows us to offer a first accompaniment to those families who are waiting to receive the services of the Arsenal.
Then because we were very surprised when we discovered that the heart of the program is not so different from the work of accompanying the families of the little ones, which we have been carrying out for years.
It was a beautiful confirmation of the importance of our commitment to forming families to change the lives of their children for the better and to try to do good with all the means we have available.


Arsenale dell’Incontro
NP December 2021