Adelina’s story

Adelina on the left with her friend Ana

Adelina (on the left in the picture) is 9 years old and has Down Syndrome. She struggles with language and communication, but these difficulties don’t stop her from being eager to express herself and trying to make herself understood. She loves music and will arrange the other children in a circle while she pretends to play the guitar or claps along with her favourite songs. The children watch her and even applaud at the end of the song.

This year our Christmas appeal aims to raise £5,000 to pay for a speech therapist and a special needs teacher to support children like Adelina. Read on and you will find out how the team at The Wish Centre are helping Adelina flourish.

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The family we can’t help right now

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

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.

Continue reading The fight to allow Liviu to attend kindergarten