100 Dominican special needs kids more independent

Cesar was born with mild to moderate cerebral palsy. He went to special education for 7 years, but as there was no other place for him to go afterwards, he just stayed at home without doing anything at all. Thus Cesar and his parents were very happy to learn of the group for adolescents and young adults with disabilities that our foundation started up in 2016 just around the corner. Cesar was 20 when he joined the group. He had already learned to read and write a little and to communicate with rather unclear speech. He was a very shy young man and would not move from his seat or place where he was standing unless you literally would take him by the hand and lead him to the next place and tell him what to do. Now, after being at the group for 3 years, he will go and greet everyone in the group when he arrives!  He is a more social active young man, contributing more with the group and with his work. He is dynamic and imitates the activities of his teammates, dances, sings and plays ball, although with difficulty, but he still joins in with all the group activities and all the others in the group cheer him on.

Junior was 16 when he joined the same adolescent group as Cesar in 2016. He is living in a group home from the Lutheran church, and with 3 more of the young people living in the home he attends the group. His left arm is paralyzed, his left leg a little affected and he has no speech, but that has not held him back doing work for which he needs both hands, he tries and tries!. He loves coloring which he does very nicely within the lines.  He was also very timid when he joined the group and it was hard for him to make friends. But ever since he has learned to communicate more with his peers, in a way they understand, he has become an active group member. Above all, he loves to play basketball and soccer. He is very cooperative, kind and always smiles.

As we are coming up to the Christmas season, both Cesar and Junior are looking forward to the yearly rehearsal of the drama of Christ's birth. You can see them in the picture below: Cesar is the tall shepherd in the front and Junior is the (gray) donkey in the back.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support that helps young people with disabilities like Cesar and Junior become useful members of the Dominican society.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season and celebration, good health and many blessings.

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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