Pedagogical Model

The Pedagogical Model has been designed for professionals involved in an educational relationship with persons with severe Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities.

The Model aims at achieving the following goals:

- Taking education as an essential factor for the construction of paths towards autonomy, capacity planning and citizenship of each person,
- Addressing professionals as fundamental tools of the growth paths of people with disabilities, in order to provide them with stimuli and tools for reflection -
individual and collective - and a change of perspective (in relation to their vision of the person with severe DS, of the service and its objectives, and of their work),
- Focusing on the centrality of the educational relationship between the person with disability and the professional.

The Pedagogical Model assumes the dignity of each human being as its central element, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

  • “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights …” (art. 1);
  • “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind …” (art. 2);
  • “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” (art. 3).

The INV Pedagogical model includes:

  • The description of the model and its context;
  • The relationship between professionals and disabled persons and its main phases;
  • The principal axioms of the relationship;

The pedagogical model is aimed at implementing several new and adapted tools, which are introduced under "Tools" in details:

  • A tool for assessing the status and the development of intellectually disabled persons: assessment tool and logbook;
  • The self-observation protocol and register to monitor the work and the emotions felt and recorded by the professional;
  • Training itinerary for staff training, aiming to get familiar with the new pedagogical model as well as to communicate and cooperate with colleagues and leading professionals/supervisors;
  • Protocol of the minutes of staff meetings, case discussions and/or team-supervision for professional implementing the new model/keeping self-observation records.