Personal assistance

Children with autism have difficulty with social interaction and can be hypersensitive to different sensory impressions. With us, your child receives individually adapted assistance that is based on consistent routines and security.

What is autism?
Autism is a permanent neurobiological disability that is usually congenital. Typical for people with autism are difficulties with social interaction and communication with others. They may have limited and repetitive behavioral patterns and interests. Different people have different severe problems, but autism often occurs together with, for example, epilepsy, intellectual disability, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and visual or hearing impairments.

Symptoms
Autism is often detected at an early age and is more common among boys than girls. Common characteristics of autism are:

• Difficulties in social interaction and communication
• Difficulties with eye contact
• Difficulties in understanding facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice
• Repetitive behaviors
• Limited interests and activities
• Limited vocabulary
• Strong reactions to different sensory impressions
• Difficulties in taking in and sorting impressions
• Great need for routines

As a parent of a child with autism, you can feel safe with us. We have solid knowledge and extensive experience of autism and help you adapt assistance to your child’s individual needs.

Life with Cerebral Palsy can vary greatly from person to person. Many people cope very well without personal assistance, while others need a lot of help.

What is Cerebral Palsy?
CP is a collective term for disorders of muscle control caused by a brain injury before the brain has fully developed. Cerebral palsy means paralysis due to brain damage, and people with CP typically have various types of movement impairments. A CP injury is often detected early in young children and the injury is permanent throughout life.

Three types of CP
Cerebral palsy is divided into three different types: spastic, dyskinetic and ataxic CP.

Spastic CP
Spastic CP, when the muscle tension is unbalanced, is the most common form of CP injury. The muscles are both weaker and more tense than normal, which leads to involuntary muscle tension. Tense muscles do not grow well and can cause malformed joints.

Dyskinetic CP
In dyskinetic CP, there are involuntary throwing or twisting movements throughout the body, and in the mouth, tongue and throat. Sometimes the body can get stuck in distorted positions and it becomes difficult to move.

Atactic CP
Atactic CP is uncommon and causes balance disorders, shakiness and difficulty coordinating movements. In atactic CP, there is often muscle tension in the legs as well.

Symptoms
Symptoms vary from person to person. Some have almost no problems, while others may have:

• Tense muscles and involuntary movements
• Scoliosis (the spine grows crookedly)
• Problems with the stomach and intestines
• Strabismus and other visual impairments
• Hearing impairment
• Epilepsy
• Intellectual disability
• Difficulties speaking, swallowing and breathing

As a parent of a child with CP, you can feel safe with us. We help you with everything from advice to recruiting assistants. Many of our clients with CP live a good life with personal assistance.

There are different degrees of intellectual disability and the need for support varies greatly. We tailor the personal assistance so that your child feels good, learns things and develops, just like other children.

What is intellectual disability?
Someone with an intellectual disability needs more time and support than others to learn things, understand context and develop. Intellectual disability can be due to chromosomal, fetal or birth defects and often occurs together with, for example, epilepsy, CP, autism, impaired vision, heart defects, depression, sleep and eating disorders.

Symptoms
The problems are often noticed when starting school. Common signs of intellectual disability are:

• Reduced intelligence
• Speech difficulties
• Visual or hearing impairment
• Reduced learning ability
• Poorer social ability
• Poorer ability to perform practical tasks such as eating, washing and dressing

The need for support for people with intellectual disability can vary. At Individens Trygghet, we have extensive experience in seeking personal assistance for people with intellectual disabilities and we ensure that the assistance is tailored to the individual so that your child’s needs are met.

Having a brain injury can mean a major and sudden change in life, both for the person affected and for those close to them. Personal assistance can be the support needed in everyday life.

What is an acquired brain injury?
An acquired brain injury is an injury that is not congenital but has occurred after birth. The injury can, for example, be due to external violence in an accident or assault, stroke or other illness and can affect, for example, speech, vision, balance, sensation, memory, personality or motor skills.

Problems
A brain injury can cause many different disabilities, both visible physical and invisible. The difficulties you experience depend on the type of injury, its extent and which parts of the brain are damaged.

Examples of physical problems

• Muscle weakness
• Paralysis
• Speech difficulties
• Impaired balance
• Impaired motor skills

Examples of other problems

• Impaired memory
• Difficulty concentrating
• Impaired logical thinking
• Communication difficulties
• Brain fatigue
• Personality changes
• Mood swings and depression

At Individens Trygghet, you who have suffered a brain injury will receive help with everything from counseling to recruiting assistants. Many of our customers tell us how they have regained their life and freedom with personal assistance.

Having a stroke can completely change your life, not only for the person who suffers it but also for those close to you. With personal assistance, everyday life can become manageable.

What is a stroke?
The brain damage caused by a blood clot or bleeding in the brain is called a stroke. Most people who have a stroke are over 65 years old, but younger people can also be affected. High blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, high blood fats, diabetes and smoking increase the risk of stroke.

Symptoms
The condition can be life-threatening and requires emergency hospital care. If you suspect that a person may have suffered a stroke, call 112 immediately.

The lack of oxygen that occurs in the brain during a stroke causes the following symptoms.

• Paralysis
• Weakness
• Loss of feeling in a part of the body
• Speech difficulties
• Difficulty understanding what others are saying
• Visual disturbances
• Dizziness
• Severe headache

Many people have lingering problems after a stroke. You may experience difficulties with memory and concentration, your personality may change and you may suffer from depression, anxiety, epileptic seizures and severe fatigue.

If you have MS, a personal assistant can make a big difference in your everyday life. At Individens Trygghet, we adapt the assistance to your individual needs.

What is MS?
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurological disease. The disease, which usually debuts between the ages of 20 and 40, is caused by scarring in the nerve cells in several different places in the central nervous system, that is, the brain and spinal cord.

There are different forms of the disease, but the vast majority of people suffer from relapsing-remitting MS. Then you have periodic problems, so-called relapses, which can last from a few days to months.

Symptoms
It is common for people affected by MS to experience several of the following symptoms.

• Numbness in the arms, legs and face
• Balance disorders
• Vision problems
• Speech disorders
• Muscle stiffness
• Fatigue
• Mood swings
• Depression
• Memory and concentration problems
• Pain

MS cannot be cured, but there are medications that slow the progression of the disease and can relieve symptoms.