How therapy is helping 6-year-old Mihai

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Mihai is 6 years old and lives with his parents in Chisinau. He is a gentle boy, attentive to details, with a remarkable memory and a special curiosity for colors, shapes, and neatly arranged objects. He loves building, sorting his toys by size, and watching his favorite cartoon over and over again. However, from an early age, his parents noticed that his development was different from that of other children his age. He didn’t respond when his name was called, avoided eye contact, and preferred to play alone in silence.

After several consultations with specialists, the family received the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was a difficult moment, full of emotions and questions, but the parents did not let themselves be overwhelmed. They began searching for solutions, support programs, and centers that could help Mihai develop and gradually connect with the world around him.

For just two months Mihai has been attending the Rain Kids Center for Children with Rare Diseases and Autism in Chisinau. He is only at the beginning of his therapeutic journey, but small changes can already be seen. He attends daily sessions of behavioral therapy and adapted educational activities. At first, he cried often, refused to enter the room, and did not tolerate being touched, but gradually he started getting used to the therapists and even looking forward to some activities.

Today, Mihai can follow simple instructions, wait for his turn during games, and communicate through gestures or sounds. Although he does not speak yet, he expresses his wishes through looks, and his shy smile brings great joy to everyone who works with him. His greatest achievement so far is that he has started to seek his mother’s gaze and take her hand when he wants something; a small but essential step on the road to communication.

Mihai’s parents are deeply involved and eager to learn how to support him at home as well. His mother says that every new gesture, every look, and every calm moment is a victory. However, both the family and the specialists believe that Mihai needs more intensive and consistent therapy in order to make faster and more stable progress.

Mihai is a child with tremendous potential. He enjoys activities that involve order and repetition — puzzles, building blocks, drawing, and coloring. Loud noises frighten him, and sudden changes upset him, but in the safe environment of the center, surrounded by his therapists, he feels increasingly confident.

Even though his journey has just begun, every step Mihai takes is a sign of courage and hope. With the right support, he can learn to communicate, to express himself, and to discover the world at his own pace. You are helping us provide quality therapy to children like Mihai, by helping us build the skills of our team. 

Thanks to our Ambassador, Serge Malaison

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

We are delighted that Serge Malaison, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Moldova in Quebec, has agreed to be an Ambassador for St Gregory’s Foundation. He has already visited our partners, Rain Kids, who support children with special needs in the capital Chişinău. They have sent this warm letter of thanks for his visit.

Dear Partners,
 
On behalf of the entire team at the Copiii Ploii Center, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the visit of Mr. Serge and Mr. Matthieu, as well as for the time, interest, and openness with which they listened to us. Their presence in our center meant far more than a simple trip — it was a gesture of solidarity, respect, and compassion toward the children and families we support every day.
We felt them as true friends of our community. They looked beyond statistics, spoke with the children, observed the therapists’ work, listened to the parents’ stories, and understood the reality faced by families of children with special educational needs. For us, this is the most valuable gift: an open heart and a genuine desire to do good.
We are deeply grateful for their willingness to support us through fundraising campaigns. The support you intend to offer together is not only financial — it represents real opportunities for our children:
opportunities for consistent therapy,
opportunities for recovery,
opportunities for inclusion,
opportunities for a better life.
We hope that this beginning of cooperation will grow into a stable partnership filled with meaningful and positive results. We remain open to ongoing communication, experience-sharing, joint projects, and everything that can bring more light into the lives of our children.
Once again, we thank you all for your empathy, energy, kindness, and willingness to be part of our story.
 
With gratitude and respect,
The Copiii Ploii Center Team

Where hope begins: Mihai’s story

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Mihai is a four-year-old boy from Călărași, the youngest in a family where he is adored. A quiet, attentive child, he has a natural talent for focusing on tasks and noticing visual details that others might miss. From an early age, his parents noticed that he was developing differently from other children. After a series of assessments, Mihai was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Read more: Where hope begins: Mihai’s story

The diagnosis was overwhelming, but his parents faced it with courage and commitment. Since the age of three, Mihai has attended kindergarten, and twice a week he visits the Wish Centre in Călărași, where he is supported with speech therapy, occupational therapy, and educational activities tailored to his needs.
Mihai still does not speak; he makes a few sounds and reacts strongly to sudden changes or when a favourite object is taken away. He struggles to communicate and to manage his emotions, which makes specialised support essential.

Despite these challenges, Mihai has made remarkable progress. He is more attentive, follows rules better, and is learning to communicate through gestures and eye contact. His family, especially his sisters, are deeply involved in supporting him, celebrating every small success along the way.

Specialists at the Wish Centre believe that Mihai has so much to offer and that he could go even further with the right support and a few more therapy sessions each week. But with local funding dropping over the past year, it is getting harder to give kids like Mihai the help they deserve.

Thanks to the generosity of St Gregory’s donors, children at the Wish Centre have benefited from three years of free therapy — support that has made a real and lasting difference in their lives. But the need continues to grow, and we don’t want to turn any child away. There are many ways you can help us raise more funds and make a difference — here are a few ideas to get involved! Will you help us give Mihai — and children like him — the chance to shine?

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Introducing Alternative Communication

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Our partners at Communication Space in Moscow continue their core work of teaching disabled young people to communicate. Here a communication book is enabling a chat about dinosaurs.

Excitingly, in the last year our colleagues have had the opportunity to teach others their methods. After an online training session on adapting books for non-verbal children, a specialist went away with plans to create a reading corner full of adapted books at her centre. Their teaching session at a conference on alternative communication was praised by delegates as one of the best of the conference. They continue to work too on guidelines aiming at more consistent use of alternative communication for those who need it across Russia.

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Our Moldovan Partners, Rain Kids, assess our impact

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

If you missed our September AGM, you can still read the presentation from Ana Gorea, co-founder of Rain Kids, a small charity that works with children with special needs. She lays out how St Gregory’s grants to provide training for their staff are helping to raise standards of care.

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Find out how staff training is helping Alex

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

The main request of the Rain Kids charity in Chişinău, Moldova, was for staff training. They offer therapy to children with special needs and are acutely aware of how low the level of professional skills are in Moldova. We are funding their chief therapist, Ana Cislaru, to take an eighteen month training course to qualify her as a supervisor in ABA therapy, so that she will be able to offer training to their other staff. Due to a lack of suitable training in Moldova, the course is provided by a Romanian charity and is accessed largely online. Here Ana explains how her training helped her plan the programme of therapy for Alex.  Despite a difficult start, she was able to find the key to his progress. Incidentally, the stigma attached to autism is still so high in Moldova, that many families do not want photographs of their children to be used publicly. We respect their wishes, but sincerely hope that one day autism won’t be a source of shame or embarrasment to families in Moldova.

Continue reading Find out how staff training is helping Alex

Supporting Maxim and his family

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Every family that comes to the Deaf Club we sponsor in St Petersburg has its own story, and that is not always straightforward. This was the case for Maxim (on the pink rocker) and his parents. His parents really struggled to accept his diagnosis, and visited several centres for a second opinion.

After his hearing was checked for a second time at the Early Intervention Institute, the family was invited to join the Deaf Club. Here, Maxim’s parents were encouraged to use the hearing aids Maxim had been fitted with. Maxim is a lovely boy, but he is hyper-active. At the Club we are able to show his parents how to attract his attention to the toys, or to other people, including to the sounds around him.

The family’s are just starting out on their path. They have recently discovered that Maxim has a genetic condition. Fortunately, our colleagues are able to support them as they adjust to the news. They will be able to speak to a psychologist with experience of working with parents of children with disabilities. They will also be encouraged to appreciate Maxim’s strengths at the weekly club sessions and will be able to see older deaf children who are flourishing. Without this support it would be difficult for some parents to see past the diagnosis, which in a society where disability is stigmatised, feels like bad news. We wish them all well.

Support not sedatives for autistic boy

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

Nina is 29 and she has an infectious smile and loves talking about her family. We’re chatting in one of the offices at The Wish’s Centre in Calarasi, which her son Liviu attends. He’s here too, a bit wary of strangers, though he sneaks a few glances at us.  Since he obviously doesn’t like having his photo taken, it is Nina you can see here. 

Liviu and Nina’s experiences expose just how little understanding there is about how to support autistic people in Moldova.  Thank goodness Nina found The Wish, where Liviu could get the support he needed.

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Vova is thriving with Sunny Corner

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

St Gregory’s is proud to sponsor Sunny Corner, a charity based in rural Moldova. They provide an accepting community that helps people with learning disabilities or autism to socialise and develop their skills. Vova (Vladimir), 43, is pictured with a violin. He lives with his mother, a pensioner. Vova is a talented artist who plays instruments, dances, and draws. He is neat and meticulous. 

Vova attended a regular school, but ‘deviations’ appeared in the 9th grade, and he was later diagnosed with autism. This diagnosis was made at a mental hospital Kodru, in Chisinau, when Vova was 14-15 years old. Due to his progressive condition, Vova left school after the 9th grade and was forced to stay at home, which hindered his further development of communication. Vova had been depressed for a long time, and it was very difficult to help him overcome it. 

Lyudmila Shishkina worked in the “Planet of Care” program before “Sunny Corner.” During that time, Vova was involved in sewing, carpentry, and drew a lot. Gradually, the black color in his drawings was replaced by bright colors, as she describes it.  Nowadays, Vova actively participates in “Sunny Corner’s” activities. 

80 Moldovan families receive food parcels

Posted on By Sarah.SGF

St Gregory’s supports Rain Kids, a charity in Chişinău, Moldova, providing therapy for children with developmental disabilities. Disability often goes hand in hand with poverty in Moldova, not least because one parent often has to give up work to care full time. With inflation of 8.8%, making ends meet this year has become particularly difficult.

With St Gregory’s funding, Rain Kids has stepped in to provide food parcels for 80 of their families. Food parcels include essentials like rice, buckwheat, wheat and corn flour, canned fish, sunflower oil and more. There are also some treats—wafers, buns, and biscuits—to bring a little joy to the kids. Domestic cleaning products are included, helping families create a healthier space for their children. The thank you letters from parents show just how much this has meant to them.

Continue reading 80 Moldovan families receive food parcels