This document outlines a family support program for families with hearing impaired children in Hungary. The main goals of the program are to 1) increase parental competence through educational programs and resources, 2) provide mental health support through parent groups and psychologists, and 3) help strengthen the connection between children and parents through sign language courses. The program faces some challenges with limited time and financial resources, but overall family support is seen as important to helping hearing impaired children develop and the effectiveness of the institute's work.

1. Family support
BUDAPEST/HUNGARY

2. Primary target/aim of the support
Family support – mainly in connection with
education of the hearing impaired children in
their special situation
It is very important, because:
• The proper support is missing (especially in
families in the country)
• In our institute it is the easiest for them to get

3. The most important parts of the
family/parent support
1. Increasing parental competence
2. Mentalhygienic support
3. Helping the connection between child and parents
4. Contribution to improve financial situations of
families
5. Others: any help according to the actual life situation;
Audiological advice and care
These special parts cannot be divided one or more of the
activities could be realised

4. 1. Increasing parental competence
Aim: to give them information in connection with:
• Hearing impairment
• Improvement, education of the hearing impaired
child
It could be realised by.
• giving information
• Improving skills
• Giving advice
• Referring to specialist orspecial institute

5. 1. Increasing parental competence
Forms of activities:
• Preparation of parents for home training (early improvement between
the ages of 0-3
– Special home training together with the parents
– Regular small-group special training together with parents, grandparent at the
methodical centre
– Hiring tools ( it makes easy for parents to obtain developing tools)
• Giving advice for all age-groups in connection with:
– home improvement, learning
– with any other important question, (CI-hearing aids,choosing institution,
integration and further education)
• Organising lectures (specialist, parents,institutions)
• Exchanging experience between parents
• Organaising open-school-days to present special methodes to parents
• Playing together
• Lessons/courses for parents

7. 1. Increasing parental competencies
Playing together
Educator in the afternoon in her own class
Once a month on Friday afternoon
Playing together with the parents and their children
Aim: teaching such enjoyable developing games that can be played at home as well (logopedia, fine motorics)
During the classes:
Play – competition games (between parent and child or between families)
e.g.: Who can suck the juice out of the plate with a strow?; Who can shoot a goal with a cotton? (blow);
Picking up zizi (small candy) with a tweezers; making Christmas decorations (wreath, etc.)
Making games e.g: Mikado – from sticks; rings from paper plates – trying out the games (playing darts)
Talking meanwhile – who has problem and what kind of, what has worked for whom.
Booklet – writing down the games
Difficulties:
making the appointments
one of the parents never came  bad feeling for the child
Positivities: besides the teaching of the parents: good atmosphere, good community builder

8. 1. Increasing parental competence
Courses for parents
From schoolyear 2005-2006
Aim: giving information in connection with:
- hearing impairment,
- knowledge,
- expert of special needs education,
- mentalhigenic assistance
Topics: lectures,visiting lessons,watching videoed therapies,talkings,
discussions
The sessions were held by special teachers, experts, doctors,psychologist
The programs gave possibility to parents:
- to get new knowledge,
- to know better the experts,
- to became braver to turn to experts for advice and help,
- to be able to get into contact with other parents

9. 1.Increasing parental competence
Courses for parents
In the 2007-2008 schoolyear a publication was issued including the drafts of
the lectures and presentations
Content:
- Our partners are parents,
- Together for our children,
- How to help our children with learning?
- Auditive examination in different ages,
- Psychological speciality in different ages,
- Hearing impaired child in the family,
- Learning by playing-playing by learning,
- How much can integration help children to socialize? How is it realised in
practice?
- Hearing impairment-language disorders, Different way of individual
communication development?
- How can methodical centre help integration?

11. 2. Mentalhigienic support
Aim:
• Reducing enhanced psychic burden in connection
with bird and education of a handicapped child
• To help overcome the actualy problems
Forms:
- group of parents,
- help given by psychologist

12. 2. Mentalhigienic support
Parent-groups
Main aim: Mentalhigienic support of parents
instead of providing knowledge
It was realised first time in 2010-2011 schoolyear
In the course-of grouptrainings we talked about
topics,which were extremly important for
parents of hearing impaired children
Groupleaders: 2 psychologist
The important feature,that the hearing impaired
parents did not come

13. 2. Mentalhigienic support
Parent-groups
Topics:
• Characteristics of parent-child connection, if
the child is hearing impaired
• Reasing hearing impaired child
• Integration or segregation
• Tolerance ,acceptance,adjustment
• Educational situations

14. 2. Mentalhigienic support
Parent-groups
• Difficulties du to hearing impairment in parent-
child connection
• Hearing impaired prent with hearing impaired
and/or healthy child
• Who can the parent depend on?
• Characteristics of different age-groups
(kindergarten and elementary school
• Life of the child in educational venues
• Connection of the hearing impaired parents with
the school and other parents

15. 2. Mentalhigienic support
Parent-groups for hearing impaired parents only
Why for them?
• The project failed to gather them in the programs
• Adventages: favurable situation: more parents from the
same age-group with open minds,acquitance with less
worries
• Disadvantages:rivalling: starting from the same point
where did we get?
• Communicational difficulties
• There were more psychic and behevioral disorders of the
child
Gropleaders: 2 psychologists
Communication: by signlanguage

16. 2. Mentalhigienic support
„Parent-school”
2012-2013 schoolyear
• Lectures,talks,playful elements
• Parents of hearing impaired children integrated and non-integrated
environment
• Hearing and hearing impaired parents together
Topics:
- Prejudic,
- Taskes and importance of the family
- Faulty educational styles (spoiling-or-agressive)
- Speech-development (CI, hearing aids)
Groupleaders: 3 persons (special teacher-psychologist –specialist
working with h.i. children)
Communication: verbal (no need to signlanguage)

18. 3. Helping the connection between
child and parents
It is important, because the communicational
difficulties influence the parent-child
connection, its organisation and living.
Forms of activities:
- organising sign language courses

19. 3. Helping parent–child connection
Sign courses for parents
• It was organised after its need had emerged from the parents
• It is free with the help of SINOSZ (tender support)
• Our institute provides classes for these course
• Participating parents:
– Those who indicated their needs
– Parents of children with serious disphasia
• Important result: strenghtening the connection between the
parents; good atmosphere
• Experience: the application of sign language is difficult for the
hearing parents, according to the feedbacks of the parents the sign
language will not become the main communicational channel
within the parent-child connection

20. 4. Contribution to improve financial
situations of families
By Foundation for hearing impared children
• Medicines, medical care
• Obtaining hearing aids and accesories
• Forest-scools, camps, travels
• Programes
Refering to the proper institutions
National Assosiation for the Deaf and Hard of
hearing
Giving information on allowances, family benefits,
nursing fees, free medical care

21. 5. Others
The actual help of families regarding
lifesituations and needs
• employing unemployed parent
• giving accomodation for parents coming from
far-away homes or in unexpected crisis
situation

22. 5. Others
Audiological advice and care
Besides the education of the children giving
advices to the parents

23. Difficulties in supporting families
Finding the proper time for the programs
• Lack of time
• Different work –shifts
• Accessibility of parents
No-motivated parents-disinterest
Mistrust (disbelief)
h.i. parents do not trust in hearing specialist
Financial sources of the institute is scare
No goverment-help, only applications sources

24. Conclusions
Parents of younger children can be motivated
more easily
Parents generaly ask for help in important
decesion only
• (CI –operation, further education and choice
of career)

25. Importance of family support
Indispensable from point of view of the child’s
development
It contributes to cooperating with parents, that
enhances of effectiveness of our work