A meeting was held with three teams of specialists Portage of the State Budgetary Institution “Arzamas House of Social Services for Children” Mayak “.
In this orphanage there are about 100 children with severe and multiple developmental disabilities (TMHD). And once there was only one speech therapist and speech pathologist on the staff. The situation changed when, in 2018, 35 specialists of the institution were trained at once at our seminar “Basic principles of the Portage methodology”. Specialists of different profiles – nannies, nurses, senior and junior nurses – have learned simple algorithms for working with children and conducting classes on processing vital skills.
At first, the idea of such work and teaching children new skills seemed overwhelming to the staff of the institution. After all, they knew how severe violations their charges were. We hoped that practice would put everything in its place and we were right.
As a result, the institution started and is currently practicing 3 pilot teams “Portage”:
Team Portage Blinova Svetlana Alexandrovna (9 specialists)
Team Portage Natalia Sergeevna Guskova (10 specialists)
Team Portage Korsakova Evgeniya Vladimirovna (7 specialists)
Experts conducted classes on the Portage method regularly. Children practiced vital cognition, infant skills, self-care, speech and communication, and socialization skills.
The pandemic challenged the teams of the Arzamas orphanage, but the teams coped with this task and did not leave the children without attention and developmental activities.
“We have adjusted the work, the continuity has turned out and, as reflected in the schedules, the specialists who had been trained earlier joined in. The work turned out to be very fruitful even in a pandemic. Long-term goals were previously formulated for each child. And when the quarantine began, the specialists began to transfer their children to each other, taking into account the watch. Those who were on watch began to lead their children and the children of their colleagues. Then other specialists came to replace them ”- Evgenia Korsakova said at the team meeting on April 20.
What’s great about Portage is that everyone knows how to fill out and read Activity Sheets. There, the smallest successes of children are noted and it is clear from “where” you need to pick up and continue to practice skills.
“We would like to share our results. Despite the fact that the last year was difficult, we are full of energy and can work according to our method of Portage. Of course, in 2020, in this environment of preventive isolation, it was very difficult, but we were looking for opportunities to continue working according to the Portage method. And we found such an opportunity, we came to great achievements. In 2020, our three guys have mastered 28 skills from different fields. For children with TMNR this is a lot! And what the children didn’t manage before, after the lessons they mastered the Portage. For example, self-care skills are very important for our children.
The biggest challenge was isolation. Employees changed, and children got used to one employee, and the teacher changed every two weeks. But then the children even liked that new people were coming.
We were all tempered by the situation in a pandemic. We rallied. We got to know better the people with whom we worked for many years together, ”said Natalya Guskova, head of another team at the institution.
“Due to isolation, we were all the time on the territory of our orphanage. Children were not allowed to go outside and we put more emphasis on developing skills. And they were interested, and we made progress. On the one hand, a pandemic is bad, but you can take the pluses out of it, which we did, ”said the specialist Portage Georgiy.
“The pandemic was not easy. People took over the shift, passed on the affairs of the children to each other, it was necessary to involve, though trained, those who had not previously conducted classes. I had to bring the specialists up to date, remember the principles of work. We were constantly in touch, consulted and in the end we got it right, ”adds the team leader Svetlana Blinova.
We want to pay tribute and recognition to the courage and dedication of orphanage workers who left their families during the pandemic to live in groups with orphans in quarantine, share with them even more care and attention, despite the situation of uncertainty.
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