100 Dominican special needs kids more independent

Every child and adolescent in our programs is so very different!  But with such great potential, that you would not expect meeting them the first time. Today I want you to get to know Jarles.

Jarles arrived at the adolescents program when he turned 12 and he had such serious problems, that the psychologist was not sure he would be able to fit in. He was not socializing, not paying attention to or collaborating with anything. He sat where he was told and there he was.

In the 6 months he has been in the Pekin group, he has changed little by little: He already socializes a little with the others, collaborates with putting and stowing the chairs and the tables and tries to attend and understand what is being said to him. He asks to go to the bathroom when he needs it.

His mother is very happy with his progress because she knows that her son needs to learn to be more independent and at home he did not have much opportunity to socialize with other people his age. In the group picture you can see him as a member of an outing with two groups of teenagers with disabilities to the monument in the middle of our town Santiago de los Caballeros.

And then we have a twin telling you their story:

We were born as a twin in the year 2006. When we were 4 years old, we had grown up into very wild and unruly boys and our mother was told that we had something like a "Disorder on the Spectrum of Autism". We developed a special language between the two of us and only our mother could understand us a little. We also liked moving around all the time and touching everything and getting into trouble.

Upon receiving visits from a home visitor from the Fundación Cuidado Infantil Dominicano, we began to learn to obey more and to speak better even though it was very little by little. Because our own language was much easier. She also taught us many other fun things like coloring, painting cutting and making displays. When they opened a special classroom in the local school, we attended there as well, but we really learned to write and read with the home vistor who is also a twin. She kept visiting us to support our mother to manage us better. First we wanted to write only very large like putting 3 enormous letters on one sheet, but now we can write on a line and even take dictation! We can also read words. We even learned to sing and we love it!!  We are a lot more independent now with looking after ourselves at home and helping with chores! Thanks to the dedication of the home visitor Carmen Luisa we have started to go to the adolescent group now also since the beginnig of this year.

There are about 36 adolescents and young people with disabilities in the 4 groups we run in 4 different locations.  Often progress is slow, but we celebrate the changes and the youngsters themselves enjoy coming to the groups.

Thanks to your continuous support we are able to continue our work with children en adolescents that live with different kinds of disabilities.

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