Foundation: in 1991 as a part of the Public Health Institute - Skopje, RE Institute for Health Care of Mothers and Children, Developmental Counseling Office �Bit Pazar�. 

Address: �Krste Misirkov� b.b. 

Telephone: +389-91-611-022 

Fax: +389-91-622-319 

Manager: Prim. D-r. Ivan Dvojakov (a specialist-pediatrician). 

1. Early detection of children with high risks and children with developmental disorders and their evidence in early years;

2. Filing children with a risk factor and following of their further development;

3. Observation and diagnosing of the level of the disorder, as well as an assessment of the other abilities, that could be more adequately developed using a well-organized early treatment;

4. Organizing and carrying out an early corrective treatment in the counseling office for children, in the family surroundings, in the kindergartens and the rehabilitation institutions;

5. Introducing the parents with the condition of their child and their training for better conveying of the early therapeutic treatment of the child in the family;

6. Assessment of the development of all children by organizing systematical examinations beginning from the earliest years, especially of the children with a certain risk-factor and children with disturbances in their psycho-physical development;

7. Following the development of the children in the nurseries and kindergartens and carrying out a corrective treatment for those children that need it;

8. Conveying analyses and research work on its territory of the different types of developmental disorders, correlating them to the etiological factors;

9. Organizing a committee within the counseling office for determining the specific needs of the children with psycho-physical developmental disorders, for a early categorization, taking adequate measures and following of the further development;

10. Cooperation with other institutions for more precise diagnosing and carrying out of the rehabilitation process and early treatment, the education-upbringing process and social protection.

 

Activities:

Following of the psychophysical development of the children (with a special emphasis on those with a risk-factor). This counseling office represents a basic and necessary ring in the chain of primary protection in Skopje. Also, it is a specially organized form where professional and teamwork is carried out with children of 0-6 years of age. Of the whole number of children of 0-6 years of age, about 5-7% are born with a risk factor. In Skopje, out of 8.000-9.000 newly born children annually, about 800-900 is born with a risk factor. Of these, 200-300, i.e. 30% of the children with risk factor are prematurely born, next are children born with asphyxia and hiperbilirubinemia.

After registering, the newly born child is being signed up in a register. The following begins in the fifteenth day after birth by the patronage service. The same service has the jurisdiction of the primary health protection and the medical service. When a necessity of a further institutionalized treatment is noticed, the parents together with the child are invited to visit the counseling office. Within its active persisting, the Developmental Counseling Office communicates with all kinds f institutions: Institution for Mental Health, Children Clinic, Children Nursery and kindergartens etc and has the role of a coordinator between them.

In the Counseling Office functions a team of two doctors, a psychologist and a medical nurse. It has a tasks to follow also the deviations in the development occurred in the age between 2-4. These children make 20-25%, which most often manifests as spasms, dreaming inversion, nutrition disorders.

A great part of the work at the Counseling Office is dedicated to the parents, handled by the psychologist. They come in a strictly determined period of time for conversation about the complexity and multiple aspects of the problems, which are often pf a socio-economic nature. About the work with the child, an assessment of the reactions to adaptability are carried out, as well as psychological evaluation (by different tests), evaluation of cognitive abilities (by Visclar�s scale), tests for readiness, emotions and other specific tests.

The doctor-pediatrician is obliged to observe the health development of the children, to detect inborn and acquired organic disorders and to give permission for regular immunization of children with risk factor.

The medical nurse is responsible for the health documentation, the regular and emergency visits of the child in the institute, to assist the doctor and to directly contact the parents informing them and advising them on many necessities that would provide the child with an undisturbed development.

Copyright � 2000-2006; Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism,
Institute of Immunobiology and Human Genetics, 1109 Skopje, PO Box 60, Macedonia
Most recent update: March 06, 2006; This site is optimally viewed with Internet Explorer
Authors: Mirko Spiroski, MD PhD & Vladimir Trajkovski, MD, MSc
Hosted by: IIBHG, Skopje