Many perspectives - one goal

Working well with parents takes trust, attentiveness and clear communication. Participants will learn practical ways to invite parents into the process, build a partnership-based relationship and strengthen their involvement in what is being done for the child. Together we will look at what helps parents and specialists become a real team, and what can get in the way. The workshop is an opportunity to exchange experience and look for solutions that work in everyday practice.

How can contact with nature spark a child's curiosity, independence and creative thinking? The workshop looks at the natural environment as a space full of educational and therapeutic possibilities. Drawing on the Reggio Emilia approach and the Dalton Plan, it shows how to create situations in which a child can investigate, experiment, make choices and express experience in many different ways. Participants will take away ideas for activities built on observation, natural materials and active discovery of the world.

Conversations with parents can be demanding, especially when opinions differ, emotions run high or difficult decisions about the child are on the table. Participants will examine communication grounded in kindness, respect and assertiveness, and will practice solution-focused conversations. A key part of the session is listening attentively, phrasing clear messages, setting boundaries and taking care of yourself in the relationship with a parent. Participants receive practical tools, including suggested phrasings and guidance organized into 21 steps that can be used in everyday work in preschools and schools. The workshop is intended for heads of institutions, teachers and specialists who work with parents of preschool and early school-age children.

Supporting a young child's development effectively does not always call for complex exercises or specialist equipment. Participants will learn what to watch for in neurodevelopmental care at successive stages of development, and how to fold simple actions supporting movement, posture and the basal senses into everyday play and caregiving. The session presents practical solutions inspired by the NDT-Bobath approach, sensory integration and motor rehabilitation. Participants will get to know sensorimotor play along with simple aids and toys that can be used directly in work with a child. The workshop shows that small, well-chosen actions can bring a child real developmental benefit.

Sensory processes shape how a child moves, holds attention, forms relationships and takes part in everyday activities. Participants will look at sensory integration in functional terms - not as something confined to the therapy room, but as part of play, movement, contact with others and daily routines. In a practical, experience-based way they will learn strategies that support regulation, attention and a child's active participation. They will also take away simple activities for use in therapeutic, educational and group settings.

Supporting a child effectively also begins with attentiveness to your own needs, emotions and boundaries. The workshop is an invitation to pause, recover a sense of inner balance and try simple practices that help with tension and everyday overload. Participants will learn ways of developing kindness toward themselves, conscious breathing and greater presence in the relationship with a child. The session is practical and reflective, and the exercises can be used at home, in a preschool, a school or a counselling center. Caring for yourself does not mean withdrawing from the relationship - on the contrary, it helps you be in it more calmly, more attentively and more authentically.

The work of a teacher, a specialist or anyone who supports others calls not only for knowledge and commitment, but also for the ability to look after your own resources. Without it, overload, exhaustion and burnout come easily. Can we take care of ourselves without feeling guilty? Can we recognize the moment our resources start to run low? And what should we do when overload sets in? This practical, experience-based workshop draws on mindfulness, self-compassion and positive psychology. Participants will learn ways of strengthening psychological resilience, emotional balance and well-being, and will take a closer look at their own resources. It is an invitation to pause and discover that caring for yourself does not take away your readiness to support others. On the contrary - it lets you help with more calm, more empathy and a more lasting commitment. Because to give of yourself, you first need to have yourself.

When we plan therapy and education for a five-year-old today, do we think about what their life will look like at 20, 30 or 40? The workshop looks at supporting a person with a disability from the perspective of a neurospeech therapist, a special educator and the mother of an adult daughter with Down syndrome. We will talk about how what is done in childhood shapes later independence, communication, relationships, working life, the ability to make choices and self-determination. We will also look at the risks of “collecting therapies”, of overloading the child, and of specialists working side by side instead of together. Together we will consider what model of cooperation we need so that support does not end with childhood, but genuinely prepares the person for a good adult life. Because the child should be at the centre of our cooperation, but the adult must be at the centre of our plans. Everything we do today should lead to one question: will it help this person live in the future as independently, with as much dignity and as much on their own terms as possible?

How can we support a young child to take part ever more skilfully in everyday activities - play, eating, dressing, handling objects and their first self-care tasks? How can hand therapy be planned so that its effects show not only during sessions, but above all in the child's natural environment? This practical workshop shows how to look at upper-limb function in the context of a young child's functioning as a whole. The starting point is not only range of movement, muscle strength or the quality of grasp, but above all what the child wants and needs to do in daily life, and what gets in the way of taking an active part. Participants will learn to plan therapy in line with the ICF approach, taking into account body functions and structures, activity and participation, as well as the influence of the environment and the child's individual characteristics. This keeps therapy goals closer to the child's real needs and the family's priorities. During the workshop participants will work on examples typical of early intervention - grasping and handling toys, eating, dressing, construction play, tabletop activities and independent exploration of the surroundings. It is aimed at specialists who want to move away from therapy that “exercises the hand” in isolation from daily life, and to see the hand as a tool for the child's independence, activity and participation in family life.

Play is one of the most natural ways in which a child gets to know the world, develops skills and builds relationships with other people. The workshop looks at play from the perspective of the Routines-Based Model (RBM) and shows how everyday activities and situations familiar to the child can become a space for supporting development. Together we will consider how play, following the child's interests and using situations that arise naturally can support communication, self-reliance, cooperation, and social and cognitive skills. Because the best learning opportunity is not always at the therapy table. Often it is on the floor, in the kitchen, in shared play and in ordinary everyday life.