Help 500 children with disabilities in Kharkov

When we work with the little one and his/her parents, we always contemplate on what's next? How will the life of this kid go, what will he/she do after leaving our Center? The story of this mom is also the evaluation of our work.  We are happy that Nadya started kindergarten.

"Nowadays much is said and written about inclusion, and I would also like to tell my story.  My daughter Nadya is three years old.  Like any other mom, I love her very much.  I'm looking at her and thinking that my baby is the best one in the world - she is friendly, charming, and absolutely wonderful, even when naughty.  For more than a year, Nadya attends kindergarten of a combined type. But the road to kindergarten opened to us several months before the baby's birth, no matter how strange it might sound.

 My friend became a mom four months before me.  We went for walks together, and while still pregnant, I met many young moms.  When little Nadya was born and we found out she had Down syndrome, for several months it was very hard and hurtful.  When I came back from the perinatal center, it was not so easy for me to meet other moms in the street and join their company.  Their talks and worries about babies' colics seemed funny and trifling in comparison with what happened to us.

When me and my baby-daughter finally joined the company of moms of our apartment building, no one ever asked me about Nadya's diagnosis, no one ever avoided us.  The kids grew up together, played with each other and became good friends.  And I thought how great it would be, if my little daughter could go to kindergarten together with the other kids, and went to see the kindergarten director.

When she found out about the kid's diagnosis, she was silent for several minutes, and then said that it's a sin to reject such children and asked us to have a preliminary consultation with a psychologist.  At that time, Nadya was exactly two years old, and she couldn't walk without support.  I was allowed to accompany my baby at kindergarten during the whole day.  Of course, I could use volunteers' services, but I am my child's whole world, and nobody will understand her better than mom.

There were a lot of fears and worries as to how my girl will be accepted by the teachers, children and other parents.  Of course, not everything goes as fast as I would like it to, but we already have the first achievements.  Nadya has become much stronger physically, there is a noticeable progress in self-service, her vocabulary has grown.  She has become more disciplined, and other kids like and don't offend her.  

So please believe in yourself, and it will all work out right!"

Oksana Sotskay, mother of a child with Down syndrome