Figure 1: The logo of TSCV

When we went to the Spastic Children’s Foundation of Turkey, we interviewed many professionals. Family Counseling Center Director Pedagogue Banu Bingöl, Speech and Language Therapist Elif Güneş Akgün, Specialist Physiotherapist Tuba Derya Doğan, Special Education Specialist Barış Kechagia. They specifically asked us to use the audio recording of our interview only when taking notes for the assignment and not to share it with anyone else. So I cannot send the voice recording. I want to share important points in the interview:

The aim of the Spastic Children’s Foundation of Turkey is to provide diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and education services for children and adults with Cerebral Palsy, to make them have a profession and to carry out activities necessary for them to engage to social life. In addition to these, it is to make an effort to children and their families to be able to meet their own needs and to be more involved in social life.

Cerebral Palsy is the most commonly encountered orthopedic/physical disability in childhood. This condition develops due to prenatal, perinatal or postnatal harm to the brain which has not yet completed its development.

Cerebral Palsy is not progressive. Early intervention to the traumatized brain and life-long rehabilitation may provide significant improvements.

Figure 2: Interview with TSCV (From right to left: Fatma Turan Tanyıldızı, Pedagog Banu Bingöl, Nazan Yıldırım, Mizgin Çetin)

Figure 3: The Building of TSCV

Premature birth, low birth weight, blood coagulation problems, maternal-infant blood incompatibility, infant asphyxia during pregnancy or during birth, intracranial bleeding, bacterial or viral infections of the mother during pregnancy which may affect the nervous system of infant, maternal alcohol consumption, smoking, drug and/or certain substance use during pregnancy, psychological problems during pregnancy and physical trauma in abdominal region may result in Cerebral Palsy. (What is Cerebral Palsy, 2019)

Turkey Spastic Children Foundation is a foundation operating under different units. Some of these units are: Family Counseling Center, Special Education and Rehabilitation Center and the School. For the children with disabilities in the school unit, a curriculum that is different from Ministry of National Education curriculum and which provides intellectual development is applied.

The Family Counseling Center serves as the reception unit of the foundation. For the development and strengthening of families and individuals; provides protective, preventive, educative, developer, guidance and rehabilitative services. It is a private unit, not supported by the government. It provides services such as family counseling, individual and group counseling services, counseling services for disabled individuals and their families, family seminars, developmental and psychological tests and implementation of scales. Anyone can benefit from these services.

Figure 4: Early Intervention Room

There are 2 Early Intervention Rooms within the Family Counseling Center. In one of these rooms, the child is examined by an expert through 6 cameras. In the other room, the family monitors the mirror glass. The examination is recorded by cameras and then evaluated by experts. One of the most important aims of early intervention is to prevent the occurrence of a disability in preterm babies and infants at risk. If the disability is inevitable, it is aimed to reduce the degree of the disability and to minimize its effects. Prechtl Analysis, AIMS, DENVER tests are applied to the babies coming under risk and the needs of the baby are determined. Taking advantage of the effect of plasticity, the child is given movement programs in the first three years and the relevant regions of the brain are stimulated. All of these works are carried out with a multidisciplinary team.

When we take them all into consideration, we can say that Turkey Spastic Children Foundation’s approach is parallel with Guralnick’s Developmental Systems Approach. There are three main steps in DSA: Child Social and Cognitive Competence, Family Patterns of Interaction and Family Resources. At the school unit and Special Education and Rehabilitation Center of Turkey Spastic Children Foundation, social and cognitive competence of children are supported. They also believe that they cannot provide full support to the child without supporting the family. For this reason, in the Family Counseling Center, they organize activities to increase the family’s resources. Programs and seminars are organized to support the psychology of the family. The psychological support provided is repeated during critical periods such as school start period.