SENSITIVE COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION THROUGH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ICDP PROGRAMME

Abstract

Abstract The ICDP approach is based on the idea that the best way to help children is first to provide help for the children's caregivers.1 At the centre of basic human psycho-social needs is the need for establishing a long-term, stable, and caring relationship with the primary caregiver, without which children cannot develop properly. The objective, therefore, must be to sensitise caregivers, in order to enhance their ability to provide good quality care and to release empathic feelings towards the children. The most feasible strategy for helping children on a large scale is to support and educate children's network of stable caregivers, which in practice means sensitising families and communities to enhance their own ability to sustain the social, cultural and environmental conditions necessary for the growth and development of children. Key words: sensitive communication, ICDP programme. Introduction International Child Development Programmes (ICDP) began developing in 1985 but as organization was not founded until 1992 when it was registered as an international programme in Oslo, Norway. The ethos of ICDP is to provide for human care by activating empathy and education of both caregivers and their children. Their aim is implementation of the recent knowledge from scientific research in child development and the benefits for neglected children. Their work is based on the principles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1993, the psychosocial intervention programme developed by ICDP was evaluated by the Division for Mental Health of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. The programme was later adopted and its manual published as a WHO document (1). Aims of the ICDP programme ICDP psychosocial intervention programme aims to enhance and enrich the relationship between caregivers and their children. The ICDP programme is designed to identify and reactivate local cultural practices, in order to stimulate development that is authentic, sustainable and long lasting. The task of ICDP training is to sensitise, build competence and confidence in members of existing child caring system. The aims of the ICDP programme are: 1. To influence the caregiver's experience of the child in a positive way, so that the caregiver can identify with and 'feel with the child', sense the child's state and needs and adjust her/his caring actions to the child's needs and initiatives; 2. To strengthen self-confidence in the caregiver; 3. To give children the opportunity to be heard, listened to and responded to by opening up a space for meaningful dialogues with adults; 4. To give children opportunities to follow their own initiatives giving them support when needed, but without taking over the control of the situation from the children; 5. To boost a sensitive emotional-expressive communication between caregiver and child that will lead to a positive emotional and developmental relationship between the two; 6. To boost an enriching, stimulating interaction between caregiver and child that will expand and guide the child's experiences and actions in relation to the surrounding world; 7. To reactivate indigenous child-rearing practices and values, including the child habits to play games, sing and activities for cooperation that are features of the environment where the child is coming from. Content of the ICDP programme ICDP programme is made by 8 indicators (topics) for good interaction and emphatic identification. The messages of the 8 indicators for good interaction are simple and universal, naturally embedded in caregiver-child communication and present in any culture. The 8 indicators can be used as frame to organize personal experience exchange and attitudes for child rising. They are divided in two categories: emotional and didactical. 1. Emotional expressive indicators Refer to early emotional dialogue of expressive gestures between the child and the caregiver, where the caregiver is following and responding to expressive initiatives and the child's body language, confirming the signals and commenting positive on the things the child does. …