Early Intervention for Disabled Children in Russia : A Multidisciplinary Approach

This book is a result of a Russian-Swedish cooperation between the St Petersburg Early Intervention Institute and Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm. The framework of this cooperation has been a project financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. The theme of the book is early intervention for children with disabilities, which is an advancing field of knowledge in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, rapidly catching up with clinical standards in Western Europe and the United States but still facing serious challenges from predominant clinical traditions and general attitudes towards handicapped children. A serious continuing problem, which early intervention efforts aim to overcome, is the prevailing system of institutional care for children in Russia, taking children from their parents and seriously limiting their chances of development. Through inter-professional work – assessments, habilitation programs and psychosocial support – early intervention aims to help children develop within their family contexts and, thus, help them to become included in a normal social life. The work of the St Petersburg Early Intervention Institute has pioneered this field in Russia. The book gives examples of professional perspectives and methods in dealing with disabled children and their parents. It also shows the context – political, social and professional – in which early intervention in Russia operates