Early Childhood Development Support for Children with Special Needs 2-8 Years From All Over the Country Through Intensive Weekly Therapy Packages

Project objective:

The project aims to provide professional services for children aged 2-8 years who have developmental delays, atypical behavior, or social and emotional difficulties. The main goal is to provide equal access to quality therapeutic services for families from different settlements.

A 14-week intensive therapy package will be provided on-site at Karin Dom for families, as well as follow-up one-on-one counseling and training for parents. The therapy will be 5 days, individual and developed in accordance with the needs and requirements of the child and the family. The project will cover families from vulnerable groups – with low income, single parents, foster families, families living in settlements where there are few or no social services for children. By supporting families from other settlements, Karin Dom will also support local specialists, who will use documents, assessments and the expertise of Karin Dom specialists. This will help them improve services in the settlement.

Activities:

The program will include screening, intensive therapy and work with the family. Specialists will develop an individual detailed therapeutic program for work at home. Depending on each individual case, different specialists will be involved – physiotherapist, psychologist, speech therapist and social worker. Specialists will decide what therapy is suitable for the child. The therapy itself may include individual work with a rehabilitator, speech therapist, trampoline therapy, sensory activities, toy library, health care, as well as work with families – consultations with a social worker and/or psychologist and parent groups for mutual help and support/motivational trainings. Families will have the opportunity to benefit from one-off consultations, if necessary, to monitor the development or discuss a specific case.

Through the program, we will also provide the following services for children from the country (outside Varna):

• Screening with new diagnostic tools;
• Consultations with a swimming coach – depending on the child’s condition, especially when the child has any sensory deficits regarding water and bathing, the family may be offered a consultation with a swimming specialist/swimming coach;
• Occupational therapy – consultation with an occupational therapist
• Group activities – depending on the child’s condition, if appropriate, he/she may be included in group activities;
• Referral to medical specialists – If needed, we refer the family to a relevant specialist in the city – neurologist, psychiatrist, pediatrician, gastroenterologist, nutritionist, etc.
• Videos of daily activities of the child and the family – families provide short videos of various routine, daily activities of the child, then show it to the therapists they work with at Karin Dom so that the condition can be further analyzed and support the therapeutic work during this week;
• Access to the digital video library of Karin Dom.

Parents who would like their children to be included in this therapy program can fill out the form HERE by checking: one week package service.

For additional questions, you can contact our team at tel: 052/ 302 518. Spaces are limited and we will close registration when they are filled.

Expected results:

14 families from the country will be supported, and parents will be encouraged to develop their potential. The priority of our specialists is that every child, regardless of deficits, be included in the educational system from early preschool age. The program will support the inclusion of these children in kindergartens and schools, which is an essential prerequisite for their successful transition and adaptation. The main advantage and benefits of the intensive program will be that the therapy will take place in front of the parents and with their participation – the family-oriented approach will be applied. Parents will see that their children, despite the difficulties, have the skills to cope. Parents will gain the knowledge and skills to become advocates for their children and their right to be educated alongside their peers. Through early support, families will become more confident that their children will meet the challenges at school, be accepted and develop their potential as they deserve. The home program, which will be prepared by the specialists, will contain guidelines for the family that will prepare them to deal with the daily needs of the child and in a family environment. The program will help children develop motor, communication and cognitive skills, as well as self-care skills and social and emotional development.

Friends of Bulgaria Association, Great Britain

The association was the first charitable organization to dedicate humanitarian aid to Bulgaria, responding in 1991 to the crisis in financing hospitals and institutional homes for disabled children and homes for abandoned children.

Photo: Karin Dom

Photographer: Gergana Encheva