A new medical rehabilitation center for autistic children became available in Chisinau. This was created with financial support from the Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Republic of Moldova. The center offers diagnostic and assessment services, logopedic and kinetotherapy services, psychological assessments and training for parents, IPN reports.
“Besides the psychological assessments needed to identity the skills of children, we also have a parent training service. During two weeks, the parent comes with the child to our center and the clinical psychologist instructs this in therapy based on applied behavior analysis and teaches the parent to communicate with the child,” said Olga Guzun, director of the Center “SOS Autism”.
According to her, in the Republic of Moldova there are few specialists in therapy based on applied behavior analysis, while the existing specialists teach each other in the absence of the necessary accreditation and studies. That’s why they decided to improve the quality of therapy. Recently, five specialists graduated from an international course on applied behavior analysis in autism at the West University of Timișoara, being supported by the Czech Republic.
Olga Guzun recommends the parents with children who do not develop according to age to come to the center to take a diagnostic test for autism spectrum disorder. If the child is confirmed with autism, this is put on the waiting list for therapy, which is very long as the center’s capacities are limited against the necessities.
The new center was created by dividing an existent institution into two specialized centers. The old center, with modest conditions, will continue providing social rehabilitation services for autistic children. The Embassy of the Czech Republic helped to reconstruct the new medical rehabilitation center and to equip this.
“I visited the old building of the center and saw that they worked well there and had important activities. But I consider that the conditions for autistic children are much better here. We hope that this center that was created with the assistance of the Czech Republic offers all the necessary conditions,” said Stanislav Kazecky, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Moldova.
The center is now attended by 45 Moldovan families and 16 Ukrainian children. The executive director of the public association “SOS Autism” Aliona Dumitraș said the center is the association’s business card.
The medical rehabilitation center for autistic children was set up as part of a broad project to develop services for autistic children and their parents to the value of €950 000. The center is situated at 4/6 Independenței St in Chisinau.
