La Pilar

The Aims of La Pilar

La Pilar will provide integrated appropriate intervention for young children who, from birth, present with a delay in any area of development.
At present there is a scarcity of trained professionals. La Pilar will provide professional training and research in early childhood development.
Our objective is to maximise the potential of children and to prevent the development of avoidable secondary disablement through appropriate intervention delivered by expert teachers, therapists, and medical and health professionals in co-operation with children's families.

We are ready to set up an integrated early learning, research and training centre in Ballinhassig, Co. Cork, close to Cork airport. This centre will be unique in Ireland. It is desperately needed. At present, infants and children presenting with a delay or deficit in an area of development have limited, if any, expert intervention options. Developmental delays become acute and compound resulting in lost development and avoidable secondary disablement. Time is the enemy of the young child experiencing a challenge. This centre will ensure that expert rescue intervention is available. First Response Service will cater for 60 babies and children.
The La Pilar Early Intervention Service will accommodate 32 to 64 children on site and more children through outreach.
All children will be able to avail of on-site primary medical care and a variety of therapies. The presence of normally developing children in the Steiner Mother and Toddler Groups and Kindergarten classes offer numerous opportunities for inclusion. Some areas are designed for shared learning. La Pilar features 8 apartments that will allow families distant to the centre to avail of its services. They will also accommodate trainees and visiting experts.

Family Support and Training

A centre of this kind must work in partnership with parents and siblings. Close co-operation will ensure successful outcomes. Family support, counselling and training are all important features of La Pilar.

What is Early Intervention?

Early intervention during the first years of a child's life are crucial. Medical and educational research have shown that the development of intelligence, personality and social behaviour occurs most rapidly during a child's earliest years. It is estimated that half of all intellectual potential is established by age four and that intervention is most effective before this age.

Watching a child develop through the earliest years is like watching a miracle unfold. The child looks, moves, smiles, grows and bonds in a natural almost effortless sequence. While all children grow and change at their own rates, some children can experience delays in their development that may be cause for concern.

A child's early development may be different from the norm or even delayed in essential areas:

• In physical development - growth, bodily function and the ability to see, hear and move.
• In speech and language development - the ability to talk and express needs.
• In social and emotional development - the ability to relate to others and to play imaginatively.
• In adaptive development - the ability to eat, dress and take care of themselves.
• In cognitive development - the ability to think and learn.

Parents are the experts concerning their child. Their dreams, visions and hopes for their child are unique. No one can guarantee that they will come true but working in co-operation with families the La Pilar team will create meaningful individualised service and support.

La Pilar First Response Service

The importance of early intervention is well established, however, it can be hard to get. Immediate intervention is necessary to maximise the outcome for the child and family. This is what La Pilar's First Response Service offers. When faced with developmental difficulties, time is the enemy. La Pilar's First Response Service will offer on going assessment and frontline intervention to children from birth on. The First Response Service will be delivered with the sense of urgency of an A&E unit and the careful planning of a service that must lay the foundations for a long-term programme to normalise development.

Integrated Approach

When growth or development is not proceeding normally, teaching, therapy and medical/health treatment must be focused on the difficulty in an integrated and affectionate way. The effects of integrated intervention on a child's developments are reflected in their ability to master ever more complex activities.

La Pilar will co-ordinate experts in all disciplines important to the various areas of early development. An experienced team will perform on going assessment of each child formulating an Individual Development Plan (IDP). These plans will be carried out and frequently reviewed and updated. An intervention, training and research environment that is fully integrated is a stimulating and productive setting for the professionals involved. Already in its planning stage, La Pilar is causing excitement among professionals here and abroad.

Beyond Early Intervention

People with special needs all too often become socially excluded. The Hope Project is committed to real, lifelong inclusion. La Pilar is designed to develop the skills necessary to live a full life in the community. Programmes that develop communication, healthy behaviour, motor skills and emotional growth will help a child interact with his or her environment and the people around them.

A Tour of the Early Intervention Centre

La Pilar is in a rural setting safe from busy traffic. The buildings are pleasing and environmentally friendly, with natural building materials selected for suitability, durability and low toxicity. The environment is modulated to cause minimal distress to children with sensory or perceptual issues. There are eight classrooms designed to accommodate 4 children and four teaching staff. Class areas include an entrance/cloak area, toilets, kitchenette, main class area, quiet/time out area, computer room and observation space.

The entrance to each classroom is individualised, one brick, one wood, one stone etc, to allow children, even those with visual impairments to identify their own classroom. The inner circle has numerous teaching, therapy and counselling rooms grouped around a rock and water area. An audio training room accommodates an audiologist while a vision room accommodates a developmental optometrist and vision therapist. The music room over looks the rock and water space and is a perfect setting for music therapy and musical activities. Speech and language therapy takes place in an inner circle proximate to the classrooms. Additional rooms are available for individual teaching and therapy sessions.

A child discovers the world through his or her five senses. Maximising the effectiveness of these senses is vital to early learning and development. The facilities of La Pilar are designed to give many opportunities for sensory organisation, stimulation and experience. Areas designed to focus on the senses include:

• A sand play area for tactile activities.
• A corridor with herbs at one end and flowers at the other, to create a variety of interesting smells, textures and colours.
• A sensory integration gym that is divided into a wet area, such as a swimming and paddling pool, and a dry area, such as swings and climbing frame. Occupational and physical therapist offices are accommodated within the sensory integration gym.

Other Facilities Available

• The reception area includes a comfortable waiting area and adjacent parents room where parents and siblings can relax, chat and meet other parents.
• Conference facilities and professional training areas are proximate to the offices.
• For social inclusion there is an integrated kindergarten on site.
• Eight apartments provide accommodation for visiting families.
• La Pilar with its ample parking for the sizeable clients and staff is situated amidst green fields. The grounds bring the country to the door and the design invites it inside.