Children's Respite Home & Outreach Project, Haiti

Over the last couple of weeks the Respite Centre (MdB) has had an Special Educational Needs (SEN) teacher and a Speech and Language Therapist working alongside the staff and children. The aim has been to establish and develop a school for the children at the MdB where the teaching and learning is at the right level for the children, and for some, as preparation for accessing mainstream education where possible.

New activities focusing on communication and numeracy have been introduced. The children have loved the new additions to their morning routine, with a song, smell of the day and coloured fabric to be used like a parachute - all to support the children’s understanding of what day it is. A tactile and sensory communication session was introduced for those with multiple impairments such as VI (visual impairment) and HI (hearing impairment) using music and various stimuli to encourage communication. The staff loved this just as much as the children did and it was great to see the children smile and laugh in response.

Within the school sessions, different activities have been introduced to develop skills in attention and listening, choice making, understanding of language and expressive communication skills as well as turn taking and social interaction skills. Following on from a previous volunteers' curriculum planning we were able to work alongside the teacher to support her in implementing this and ensuring each child’s learning needs were addressed.

We were able to do training with parents around communication and supporting eating and drinking skills as well as play and interaction skills at home. Staff also received two days of training with topics such as supporting teenagers, communication, education, sensory activities and physical activities for the children. These days received great feedback from staff and parents and we hope to be able to establish regular training and information sessions for parents covering a wide range of topics.

Some highlights from the summer were seeing those children with the most severe needs responding so positively to the tactile communication sessions; being able to support a child with spastic quadraplegic cerebral palsy feed himself with a spoon for the first time; being able to encourage a child with a difficult home life to show her reading and numeracy skills in a safe and supported environment.

Thank you so much for supporting this unique project.

Links:

• HHA disability care work