Communication Space helps Ilya

Posted on By Sarah.SGF
Ilya

Iya is 27 years old. Since birth, he has suffered from profound intellectual, visual, and motor impairments. He was also diagnosed with autism. Ilya is one of 20 children and young people who benefit from personalised help at the Communication Space Centre, which assists with their communication and independent living.

Due to his severe impairments, Ilya is unable to use communication books and pictures, relying only on natural gestures and pointing to objects. He fears and avoids unfamiliar public places, which can often lead to epileptic seizures. Ilya lives with his mother, Irina, and needs constant care and support from adults.

Last year the Centre’s specialists helped Ilya to adapt better to new places. He has become particularly good at understanding the difference between a hardware store and a grocery store, and he behaves differently in them. Grocery stores are his favourite! The main positive changes in his communication are related to food—it is during meals that Ilya began to initiate contact more often. At home, he has learned to rely on the daily routine.

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News from Moldova: Rain Kids

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Five-year-old Alex lives in Chişinău with his family. The family turned to the Rain Kids Centre when it became clear that Alex was developmentally delayed. Their ambitions are simple, and ones most of the parents share: “I wanted Alex to start talking, eat independently, dress and undress by himself, to be more autonomous, to socialize.”

The staff at Rain Kids are very motivated to help the children in their care reach these goals. Last year, we helped them by providing supervision from an experienced practitioner from Romania. Now, we are funding Rain Kids’ lead therapist, Ana Cislaru, to raise her qualifications so she can offer training and supervision to her 8 colleagues.

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The value of a good supervisor

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Since we started working together, The Rain Kids Centre’s goal has been to improve the quality of the therapy they are able to offer children with developmental disabilities, such as autism. St Gregory’s has been funding supervision by an experienced therapist from Romania. She has visited to observe the work of the centre and provide training sessions.

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A visit to The Wish Centre

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

The journey from Chişinău to Călărași was just over an hour to The Wish Centre for disabled and autistic children and youths. This centre is a beacon for many local families who are raising children with special needs. Currently it is the only place in the region they can turn to for help and guidance.

Eugenia, who is just over 30, saw her life take a dramatic turn a decade ago when her sister lost her parental rights, and Eugenia found herself looking after her niece Ana, a baby with Down syndrome.

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Making books accessible

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

If you have young children in your life, you have probably come across the “That’s not my” series of tactile books. The chances are you won’t have seen them in this format.

This spring, our colleagues at Communication Space have been leading workshops on how to adapt books for those with multiple disabilities. The changes may be as simple as making pages easier to turn, or they might involve translating text into the PECS language of symbols used by some non-verbal people. As ever, the adaptations are simple, achievable and tailored to the specific needs of each person.

28 professionals and parents took part in the course and between them they made more than 50 adapted books.

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The family we can’t help right now

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

In the last couple of months our partners at The Wish in Moldova have been supporting 18 disabled children.  Each one of them has a personalised care plan and has benefitted from speech therapy, ocupational therapy and specialist education to help them develop their thinking skills.  Two thirds of the families come from rural areas.  These areas are already poor, but having a disabled child usually makes it impossible for both parents to work.  When a child isn’t able to go to school someone has to look after them.  Those who live in the countryside also find it harder to access all kinds of services.  Where possible, The Wish provides free transport.  Very sadly, they can no longer offer this to everyone who needs it, which means some families are missing out.

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The fight to allow Liviu to attend kindergarten

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When Liviu was a baby he was very agitated.  At a very early age, his parents noticed that he wasn’t starting to babble like other babies.  As a toddler, he didn’t respond to his own name and seemed to be in his own little world.  He would often have melt-downs.  After some time, Liviu was diagnised with autism, a diagnosis which scared his mother.

picture of Liviu working on an activity

Now Liviu is nearly five and he has been attending The Wish centre for a year.  He has benefitted from speech therapy, occupational therapy, a psychologist and ABA therapy.  At first he found it difficult to join in, but little by little he became comfortable with the staff.  He stopped crying and started to be interested in the activities and to react to his name.

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Our Christmas appeal – a chance to help Ana

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

This year our Christmas appeal is in aid of The Wish, a Moldovan charity that is providing rare community support for children with disabilities in Moldova.

Ana’s story

Ana is eleven now, and she has been coming to The Wish since she was five.  Ana had a difficult start in life.  She used to live in the countryside with her mother, who is disabled, and her grandfather.  After her grandfather died her mother couldn’t cope financially or practically.  Fortunately, the wider family were able to help and Ana now lives in Călărași with her aunt.

Ana also has Down syndrome.  Her aunt is working hard to try and meet her additional needs and brought her to The Wish.  When she first joined aged five her language skills were poor, as well as her co-ordination and fine motor skills.  The Wish provide her with a personalised programme of therapy including speech therapy.  She also takes part in a whole range of activities, both educational activities and social ones.  Ana is integrated into a local mainstream school, but she only attends two days a week.  This makes The Wish’s support absolutely vital both for her and her family.

Ana is lucky in that in her aunt’s family she feels loved and important as a member of the family.  Eugenia strives to educate her properly and to be her mother and close friend as well.  The Wish supports her aunt and mother by teaching them about Down Syndrome and about some of the strategies and techniques they use to work effectively with Ana.  They are fortunate to have formed a good team with her family – together they can give Ana much more support than either of them can alone.

How to donate today

We are delighted to see the progress that Ana has made, and to see her enjoying our group activities so much.  It is very much for Ana, and other children like her, that we are appealing today.  It is so important that Ana’s care is not interrupted, and so we are doing all we can to fill gaps in the local funding.  Can you help us raise £4,300 by the end of the year so that we can continue to be there for Ana and her family (as well as 29 other children and young people)?

Meet our new Moldovan partners

Posted on By Sarah.SGF
In Moldova only 26% of the population believe that people with special needs should be included in their community. Like other ex-Soviet countries, Moldova has traditionally relied on large institutions to care for disabled children and adults. This has left communities wary of those who are different, and families with very few support services.

St Gregory’s has a history of championing inclusion in this region. We look forward to working with our new partners to give families access to the kind of support which will affirm their children’s value and help them reach their potential.

On 28th November, Giving Tuesday, there is a great opportunity to help. You can help us win a share of $1,200,000 by donating on that day via Global Giving.

We also have tickets on sale for our online talk on Ukrainian art and architecture from an esteemed curator, Alexei Leporc, at The Hermitage Museum. 

The Wish (Dorintsa) is based in Călărași. They provide therapy and education for children with additional needs in this mainly rural area.

Sunny Corner (Plaiul Soarelui) runs a farm in the Moldovan countryside, where young people with disabilities can get involved in meaningful work and social activities. We are delighted to have co-sponsored a ball for their families, and young people with learning difficulties from further afield, including Ukraine. Parents talk of how the event made them feel visible, and brought great joy to their children.

Rain Kids (Copiii Ploii) is based in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova. The charity provides therapy to children with special needs. Together we are tackling the skills gap by funding additional training for their therapists.

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How A-Tech has helped Sasha

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Our partners, Communication Space Centre in Moscow, support children and young people who do not communicate verbally. We support their Alternative Technology programme, using hi- and low-tech means to make communication possible. We are delighted that they have been able to move to bigger and better premises recently.

Sasha is one of thirty children and teenagers that Communciation Space help with regular one-to-one and group activities funded by St Gregory’s Foundation. Sasha is 14. Like all Communication Space’s young people he does not communicate verbally. He also has learning, emotional and behavioural problems. In just six months, Communication Space have helped him make great progress.

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