2024-04-10 00:07:41
Gangnam-gu provides one-stop ‘examination-counseling-treatment’ service for children with developmental delays. Gangnam-gu (District Mayor Seong-myeong Cho), a city where dreams gather and who envisions the future, is strengthening the one-stop service of examination-counseling-treatment for infants and toddlers suffering from developmental delays due to wearing masks and reducing face-to-face activities during the COVID-19 period.
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on children’s language and social development. According to Seoul city statistics in 2022, about 33% of children in daycare centers are suspected of having developmental delays and need professional help. Early intervention and treatment are important in cases of developmental delays in infants and toddlers, when the brain grows explosively. However, there is a problem in that treatment may be missed due to the high cost burden at private institutions and the long waiting time to receive the actual test. The Gangnam-gu Childcare Support Center has provided development support services that allow parents who are concerned about their child’s developmental delay to easily receive tests starting in 2022, and has supported 5,469 people so far.
This year, we will further strengthen the customized development support project that includes developmental testing, expert counseling, and treatment. Caregivers can take various developmental tests online, including motor skills, language, and social skills, depending on their child’s age. Not only the child but also the parents’ parenting attitudes, characteristics, and stress, which have a significant impact on the child’s emotional development, can be tested. Based on the test results, consultation with experts is provided and the patient is referred to a treatment facility. In particular, this year, business agreements were signed with 17 professional treatment institutions to ensure more thorough treatment linkage after consultation. In addition, to ensure continuous treatment, 800,000 won per year is provided in the first year of treatment and 400,000 won per year after the second year of treatment.
We provide a variety of support not only to families, but also to daycare centers that care for children. Through the ‘Visiting Infant Development Support Project’, daycare centers in the district can request developmental tests for children suspected of having developmental delays. First, after filling out an online test form, an expert visits the daycare center, observes the infant, and provides consultation with teachers and parents. If a child is determined to be at risk of developmental delay or disability, the daycare center will support the labor costs of one assistant teacher for every two children with developmental delay so that the child can use an assistant teacher.
Meanwhile, special teachers visit daycare centers that care for children with disabilities to teach them coaching methods and develop and provide social and emotional development support programs for infants and toddlers that can be run in daycare centers. Families and daycare centers in need of developmental support tests and counseling can apply through the Gangnam-gu Childcare Support Center website or by phone.
Gangnam-gu Mayor Cho Seong-myeong said, “For parents who are worried about developmental delays in children raised during the COVID-19 period, we are providing support in various ways so that they can receive testing and treatment at an early stage.” “We will build a system that complements this with support,” he said.
Queen reporter Choi Hana photo Gangnam-gu
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2024-04-10 00:07:41