Families

Balancing the therapeutic and care needs of a disabled child can place high physical and emotional demands on families. The MOVE Programme includes parents as a fundamental part of the team around the child so the family members are directly involved in, and can contribute daily to their child’s sustained progress. This ensures the individual is provided with the greatest opportunity to develop, as everyone supporting them is contributing to, and advancing their progress – not just those with a professional interest.

By using meaningful and tailored goals, your child is better able to acquire a more independent and fulfilled life. The mobility improvements attained promote a variety of health benefits, including improved bone density achieved through increased weight bearing, and the stretching of muscles and joints, therefore further improving family life. In addition, as the child/adult gains new skills, family members are able to spend less time on routine care, allowing more time for family life.

Although not a cure, the MOVE Programme gives the severely disabled individual and their families’ a real chance of progress. For further information, please read our frequently asked questions.

How to access the MOVE Programme for your child

A team approach is the key feature of the MOVE Programme, and, as such, we recommend that a child's teachers, learning assistants, care assistants, therapists and parents are all involved to ensure best practice. Therefore, in the first instance, we recommend that you contact us to find out if there is a school or centre that uses the MOVE Programme in your area.

If there is no school or care centre nearby, we would aim to get your school or care centre on board. The first step would be for you as the parent to inform your child’s school/centre about the MOVE Programme. We will then be happy to make contact directly with the school/organisation to discuss the best way forward.

To see the MOVE Programme in action, a visit to your nearest MOVE Centre of Excellence can be arranged on your behalf. We can also put you in contact with other parents, like Liz, who are MOVE Parental Ambassadors. They would be happy to speak to you about the MOVE Programme and its benefits from a parent’s perspective.

Please contact us to receive an information pack, to discuss how the MOVE Programme might help your child, or to speak to another parent about the MOVE Programme.

Training for Family Members

To ensure the MOVE Programme is implemented in the most effective way for your child, we provide courses leading to certification as a MOVE Practitioner. This training takes two days and covers an introduction to and practice of the MOVE Programme, including:

• Assessment of abilities
• Maintenance of expertise acquired
• Setting of appropriate goals and the analysis of what’s needed to achieve the goal
• Use of equipment, and reduction of support
• Teaching of skills
• Maintenance of expertise acquired

This course is designed to ensure that each child has the best possible support in taking their first steps towards independence. To ensure the child is able to benefit from the most effective use of the MOVE Programme, we strongly recommend that the whole team around the child are trained as MOVE Practitioners (including parents) to allow the child to benefit from the trans-disciplinary working supported by the MOVE Programme.

MOVE Practitioner training is available to everyone including parents and other family members. For further information, please see MOVE Training or read more about the MOVE Programme.