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Mali Dom establishes collaborative partnerships with families in order to empower them. The offered
services provide the necessary conditions for a child to fully develop his or her potential and a basis
for future learning. By building the competences of family members, their involvement with the child
and their participation in the community on behalf of the child is increased.
THE PROBLEM:
No services existed before
the start of Mali Dom
Prior to the Mali Dorm initiative, there were no
established and recognized home-based early
intervention services in Croatia, and there was either
no or very low early identification of children at risk of
developmental delay. The few practices that did exist
were usually deficit-oriented, which gave the child
and parents a negative impression regarding disa-
bilities. Doctors and other professionals determined
the child’s needs and made decisions for the family.
Worse, the fragmented and specialized services
started later than they were actually needed.
THE DEVELOPED SOLUTION:
Collaboration with children
and parents
The mission of Mali Dom is to provide comprehen-
sive, accessible, and responsive home-based early
intervention services that support families in raising
a child with a developmental disability or the risk of
developing a disability from birth until three years of
age. The goal is to reach developmental milestones in
the first years of life.
The primary focus of the programme is to build the
confidence and competence of parents and other
caregivers by promoting the child’s development and
participation. This includes participating in “expe-
rience groups,” which consist of parents and their
children together with professionals (psychologists,
social workers, etc.) who function as moderators. The
goal of these groups is to provide experience to par-
ents and their children through moderated activities
and discussions. In addition, there are support groups
whereby parents meet with other parents twice a
month for discussion and role play, again guided by a
moderator.
By working as a transdisciplinary team, the likelihood
of confusion for the family is reduced since the num-
ber of people and disciplines with which they need to
interact is very low. This model is less intrusive than
a conventional institutional model because parents
only need to build one key relationship and only one
service provider visits the home. Such enhanced
and streamlined communication is considered a key
benefit for the family.
The Mali Dom model also provides greater service ef-
ficiency: more children can be served because fewer
providers routinely see a child. Further, on each visit
families receive guidelines for the next 2–4 months,
including written materials tailored to the specific
needs of the child and family.
THE MODEL:
It is important to start as
early as possible
The Early intervention Team created this method
based on their knowledge and experience as well
ABOUT CROATIA:
One of the few countries that offer
fully inclusive education
• The Republic of Croatia declared inde-
pendence on 8 October 1991 leading to the
break-up of Yugoslavia, and the country
was internationally recognized by the
United Nations in 1992. Since 2000 the
country has had a parliamentary system,
and in 2013 it joined the European Union.
With 4.3 million inhabitants, of whom ap-
proximately 200,000 are under five years,
Croatia had a gross national income per
capita of $19,409 in 2015. The economic
output is dominated by the service sector,
which accounted for 66 percent of gross
domestic product, followed by the industri-
al sector with 27.2 percent and agriculture
accounting for 6.8 percent.
• Croatia offers all children and young peo-
ple – including those with developmental
disabilities, who are members of national
minorities, the gifted, and those who are
disadvantaged – full inclusion in the educa-
tion system on all levels, as well as further
education through adult education and
lifelong learning programmes.