Early intervention is crucial for children with development delays or special educational needs, said Maria Startsov, the mother of a child who suffers from the Down syndrome. The child, who recently turned five, was integrated into early intervention services at the age of three months. Even if with delays and with bigger efforts, the boy learned to crawl and then to walk and started to speak.
In an interview for IPN, Maria Startsov said that five years ago, the news came as a serious blow to the family. “A period followed when I practically didn’t sleep,” related the woman. She suffered from depression. She didn’t feel the ground under her feet and didn’t know what to do and where to go. What will happen to her boy when he grows up? What will happen to the girl? What will the relatives say? How will the community react? She didn’t have answers to these questions and the feeling of uncertainty grew.
When she realized that her child is different and this needs a different approach in development, she started to look for information. She was determined to do something, but didn’t know where to start from. She looked up facts on the Internet, spoke to parents with similar experiences and thus learned about the early intervention service and the Center “Voinicel” that supports families with children with development delays.
The boy was only three months when they went to the Center first. “Here we were examined and assessed and were involved in a series of activities. First of all they offered us psychological assistance that motivated us a lot and helped us to speak about our situation to others and to accept it first,” stated the woman.
At the Center “Voinicel”, she learned how to make massage to the child and to motivate this with the help of toys. She learned elements of sensory stimulation therapy, with the help of different objects and tissue, and studied occupational therapy. She applies the knowledge she obtained from the Center’s specialists at home, in the yard and wherever she goes to the child. Step by step, the efforts started to produce results. The boy started to crawl and to babble and then to walk, even if much later.
After the age of three, when they were no longer eligible for the services of the Center “Voinicel”, they were referred to a preschool institution attended by children with special educational needs. When they saw the boy’s progress, they decided to enroll him at an ordinary kindergarten that he now attends half a day and his mother is his personal assistant. It wasn’t easy, but they succeeded with considerable insistence. The interaction with the preschool children there, even if these are smaller, helps the boy to learn new things and to borrow behaviors.
When they realized that they have a child who is different from the others, they changed their views and reviewed their values and priorities. Despite the stereotypes and financial and integration difficulties with which they have to cope, they are united and know to enjoy every moment and each step forward in the development of the children is a real victory for the whole family that raises also a girl aged 13.
