THE INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF FUNCTIONING, DISABILITY AND HEALTH (ICF) IN CHILDREN

Key words: Disability, International classification, Children

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has been adopted by the World Health Organization in 2000, to improve the International Classification of Disease (ICD). ICF provides an accurate assessment of what a person can do in daily life and of how disease and environment interact to influence the private and social life of a disabled person. The ICF model has been defined as “bio-psycho-social”, since it takes into account impairment and disability, as well as activity and social life participation of a disabled person, and provides information about environmental, social, and family factors which can modify and modulate the effect and the prognosis of disease. ICF has not yet been fully investigated in children and this paper represents one of the first attempts of describing how such classification can be applied to disabled children. We have also tried to identify the potential benefits which those who are involved in planning and evaluating rehabilitation services can receive from adoption of ICF.