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FACILITATIVE
GUIDANCE
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The above objective is
best achieved through facilitative, rather than instructive guidance,
which encourages active involvement and sharing among all participants
in the ICDP programme. The objective is to create a warm human environment
with space for self reflection and self discovery, without imposing
ready made formulas from outside.
Participant caregivers
are invited to share their observations about their children's behaviour
and their own responses to it. The group leader (ICDP facilitator)
works on promoting a positive conception or image of the child in
relation to all participant caregivers and this often involves replacing
negative perceptions with more positive ones. The task of the facilitator
is to facilitates discussions with inquiring questions and then
to stand back encouraging everyone to speak. He or she makes positive
comments after the topics have been sufficiently explored by caregivers
and at the end of the meeting emphasises once more the developmentally
oriented and optimistic conclusions arrived at by the group itself.
New understanding results from a process of exploration in group
that draws on personal practical experiences of all those present
through sharing of personal stories and examples.
The focus is on creating
a space for the participant caregivers to hold meaningful and reciprocate
dialogues, not only with each other, but to transfer this also in
relation to their children, i.e. to practice listening and responding
to their own children, as well as help their children learn to listen
and respond to them.
FACILITATOR'S
SKILLS
Facilitative guidance
presupposes certain key skills, which are practiced in the ICDP
programme, such as the ability to:
- To establish a contract
of trust and love with caregivers
- To listen and empathise
with the caregiver's personal story
- To lead a group discussion
with constructive hints, but without imposing
- To promote a positive
image of the child and when required replace the negative conceptions
that caregivers may have with positive ones
- To make positive assessments,
by seeking out and pointing out that which is already positive in
the caregiver's practice and the child's behaviour
- To interpret to the
caregiver their child's behaviour as meaningful
- To give examples through
stories and illustration from personal experience
- To give practical demonstrations
to caregivers of different aspects of good quality interaction.
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