Social Work with Children with developmental challenges

The main objective is for students to: develop the social perspective of social work with children with developmental challenges; to think, act and respect the user's perspective in social work. Students will be introduced to theories and approaches, as well as with different types of disabilities. Students will be able to adopt knowledge and skills for social work interventions and development of individual plans, as well as for empowering and inclusion of children with developmental challenges in communities.

After completing this course students will be able to: define the main goals in social work with children with developmental challenges; explain different impairments that cause disabilities and recognize the characteristics of different types of disability; describe and explain the social position of a child with developmental needs and their family, identify important elements of the individual support plan, as well as to recognize the importance of networking and concept of intersectoral cooperation.

The curriculum is implemented in a way that it consists 15 topics that cover the most important segments of the holistic approach in social work with children with developmental challenges . The topics cover following: legal framework, principals, theories, perspectives, approaches, models and methods in social work with children with developmental challenges and their families, development of individual support plans and cooperation with other important systems (school, health care organizations etc.)

The lectures represent introducing students to relevant topics, small group discussions, in class discussions, writing assessments on specific topics, reading relevant literature etc.