RECEIVING OFFICE

Every child has a right to be brought up in a respectful, loving nurturing environment and therefore, realizing the importance of the family and the role of a family in the early intervention process, the Frank Hilton Organization set up the Receiving Office in May 2018.
The Receiving Office is the first point of contact for all families who are interested in the services of the FHO and provides an opportunity for parents and guardians to have a focal point of contact, to discuss their concerns regarding their child, make appointments with other departments, discuss transition plans or simply have someone to lend a listening ear.  Parental/guardian concerns vary from health-related issues, access to services, poor academic performance, delayed developmental milestone achievements and behaviours of concern that make life challenging for the child and their family. The key function of the Receiving office is to offer support and coordinate services.

KEY FUNCTIONS - Initial registration process
- Case management
- Conduct parent / guardian counselling
- Goal setting
- Monthly review of all cases
- Transition planning and community outreachengaging with other special and inclusive schools and kindergartens
- Collecting and collating data and maintain database
- Playgroup
- Out-patient group programs and school readiness programs

AIMS
- To ensure parents and children enrolled at FHO receive optimal care and support at the initial stage and throughout their journey.
- Facilitate smooth transition for children and families to Hilton Early Intervention Centre and Hilton Special School as well as other special and inclusive/ mainstream schools and kindergartens.
- Provide data and statistic to Management for monitoring and evaluation and planning.

The process facilitated by the receiving office not only ensure the child remains within the mainstream school setting but also provides accessibility within the home to support the child’s need. What started with a simply screening transpired to health, educational, social and economic support for the child and their family in a holistic manner.

 

HILTON PLAYGROUP

The Playgroup program was an initiative of the FHO Speech Therapy Unit and begun in Term 4 2017, a total of 98 children have participated in playgroup since its inception.
Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children.
The purpose of the Playgroup is to provide an early intervention program for children under the ages of 8 years. The playgroup follows the Mataniceva Fijian ECE curriculum which has been adapted for children with special needs. The child’s special needs are catered for within the setting, and the groups include children with a variety of disabilities and inpairments.
•Wednesday playgroup is for children with Cerebral Palsy or children who require more floor-based activities and their caregivers, as our existing playgroup did not meet the needs of these children.

The aim of the play group is to assist with the child’s cognitive and social development and to promote learning experiences that can be replicated at home. This is achieved through a variety of communication, play and sensory experinces
The numbers of the children increased from 3 to 7 regular participants. We were also able to utlitise expertise from a speech language therapist to promote further communication strategies.
KEY FUNCTIONS:
• Provide a multidisciplinary assessment and intervention programmes in the form of a Playgroup for children who are on the waiting list to attend the Early Intervention Centre school-based program or Hilton Special School.
• Use play to engage the child and parent and acquire different skills and experiences
• Support parents in understanding their child’s different abilities and provide strategies to achieve their goals.
• Provide an opportunity where parents can support and learn from each other and from the interdisciplinary team

AIMS:
• Smooth and consistant transition of children to Early Intervention Centre and Hilton Special schools.
• Transitioned to mainstream education instead of remaining on the waiting list for Early Iintervention Centre or Hilton Special School
• Parents to advocate for their child and created friendships and supports between themselves.
• Greater team work within the multidisciplinary team and parents