Working/Caring for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

The MAITS Community Health Worker Empowerment Training Programme is designed to equip staff who have little or no knowledge of developmental disability to provide basic guidance to families, using the MAITS Parent Guide. This programme has been developed to address a global gap in the training of healthcare staff working with infants in developing countries. 

The two packages given below together form MAITS training programme for therapists who want to help grassroots workers support caregivers. It includes a “Parent Guide” and a structured “Training Programme”. The trainers use “Working with Children with Developmental Disabilities and their Caregivers” resource to train grassroot workers on “Caring for Children with Developmental Disabilities – Guide for Parents”. p

Grassroots workers, also known as keyworkers, use the MAITS “Caring for Children with Developmental Disabilities” guide to assist parents and caregivers. The programme ensures children with developmental needs get the right care at home, especially if they can’t access specialised therapy centres. 

The focus is on empowering grassroots workers to teach caregivers how to support children in their daily activities, improving their health and well-being. This not only helps the children but also makes life easier for parents by reducing stress. The programme is certified by CPD UK and has been successfully implemented in various countries in South Asia and Africa. 

If your organisation is seeking training for your staff on these packages, then please contact MAITS directly by writing to info@maits.org.uk 

Working for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities – A Training Programme 

This training programme is designed to equip staff who have little or no knowledge of developmental disability to provide basic guidance to families, using the MAITS Parent Guide. 

The course aims to provide trainees with: 

• An overview of childhood disabilities and their causes and impact 
• An understanding of how to use daily activities to promote health, development and well-being. 
• The skills to be able to use the MAITS Guide for Parents and work effectively and respectfully with children with disabilities and their caregivers. 

Caring for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities – A Guide for Parents 

This is a user-friendly toolkit to be used by generic workers (e.g. child development workers, community health workers etc.). It provides guidance on how to support children with varying levels of cerebral palsy and/or intellectual disabilities and/or autism spectrum conditions through the day, to promote their health, development and well-being. 

The guide contains useful tools to aid assessment of the child’s strengths and needs, make decisions with the family on what aspects of their care to focus on and then provides easy tips on how to support the child to develop their skills. It also includes tools to monitor progress and reset goals.