Families in the districts of Criuleni and Dubăsari have access to early intervention services for chidden aged between 0 and 3. They can go to the Early Intervention Center “Lăstărel” in Criuleni town, which offers support services to children with disabilities from the youngest age.
In a news conference at IPN, pediatrician Maria Castraveț, coordinator of the Center, said the early intervention services center primarily on the family. “These services are designed to create a stimulating and favorable environment for children so that these realize their maxim potential during the shortest period of time, up to the age of three. Why is the period of up to three years important? Because the child’s brain in the period can be maximally plastic and the child can be shaped and helped to develop the necessary skill.s The most important thing is to early identify the children who risk having development disorders or were born with such disorders,”’ stated Maria Castraveț.
The pediatrician noted that the Center offers services both to the family and the child. The family is helped by a psychologist to easier overcome the period of denial of the child’s diagnosis. The parents can also strengthen their aptitudes and knowledge in the development of the child, by meetings within a multidisciplinary team and by individual meetings, with each specialist apart.
Ina Cazacu, project coordinator at the public association “Femeia şi Copilul-Protecţie şi Sprijin” (“Woman and Child-Protection and Support), said the service was created as part of the project “Access to Early Intervention Services” that is financially supported by the EU. “In 2008, we, as an organization, started to offer care services for children with disabilities at home. Since then we saw that the need for such services was greater for children aged between 0 and 3,” she stated.
Ina Cazacu noted that within the given project, they managed to renovate the location and to outfit the Center with equipment for the rehabilitation of children. There were employed six specialists: pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, kinetotherapist, psycho-pedagogue and social assistant. “In the framework of this project, we managed to sensitize the family doctors who are our partners in the development of these services as they refer parents to our services. We work with the parents who educate or care for children with disabilities aged between 0 and 3. There will be no early intervention without the involvement of parents. Besides helping the child, we should also help the parent to understand the difficulty of the children, their role as parents and how they can intervene,” sated Ina Cazacu
The public association “Femeia şi Copilul - Protecţie şi Sprijin” based in Criuleni town was founded in 2000 to offers support services to all the persons with disabilities staring with the youngest age.
