parents and family members

The manual for parents and family members is part of a set of training materials created under the Multi-IN project to help the multidisciplinary care and inclusive education of pupils with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

This manual covers the key aspects of being a parent of a child with spina bifida or hydrocephalus that impact the child’s education and social inclusion. A variety of important topics related to upbringing and education, such as building functional skills, promoting independence and self-care, developing resilience, etc., that strongly influence, though indirectly, the child’s participation and performance at school and in the kindergarten are covered.

As external parties to the education system, the parents may have difficulty understanding their role in it, including some ideas, rights, functions and relationships within the educational process. This manual contains separate chapters dedicated to the child’s rights in the education system, the basic principles of inclusive education, the functions of the parent in the multidisciplinary team and the interaction with the professionals in the team. Our goal is not so much to go into deep detail, but to provide basic knowledge on these topics using language that is easy to understand and to encourage parents to improve and to try to find themselves the answers they need.

We hope that this Manual will help parents to become more aware of how the way they upbring their child at home affects the child’s inclusion at school and kindergarten and to increase their knowledge and improve the skills they need in order to help their child achieve full participation in the educational process.