We are seeking support to extend the hours of the early intervention program we run in Ashkelon for at-risk preschool children with disabilities. The Chimes Shulamit and Shaked Early Childhood Treatment & Rehabilitation Centers operates from 8am to 3:30pm in Ashkelon. The project seeks to keep the centers operating until 6:30pm, as an alternative to home care. During the extended time at the center, there will be rehabilitating and nurturing care, dinner, and leisure activities.
These children with developmental delays, autism, genetic diseases and syndromes, also experience poverty, verbal and physical abuse, neglect, and inadequate parenting. When the center closes at 3:30pm, many are left in unsafe and inadequate environments such as at the babysitting centers called, "children's warehouses." Here they are crowded into tiny hot rooms with one adult for 30 children, no air conditioning, poor ventilation, and no activities. Since 2010, 26 children have died in these.
The project will solve the problem by reducing the time the children are in an unhealthy or risky environment (at home or such as the children's warehouses) and through parental education on normative conduct for an emotionally and physically safe home environment. The program will prevent the removal of the toddlers from their parents' custody to social services and an out-of-home arrangement such as foster care. The parental education will ensure a better infrastructure for a healthier home.
This early intervention and intensive rehabilitation through the after hours program is the ideal approach for optimal physical, oratory, cognitive, social, and emotional development. The neural circuits in the brain, the foundation for learning, behavior and health, are most adaptable during the first three years of life. Over time, these connections become harder to change. The earlier intervention is implemented, the better a child's chances of achieving their lifetime full potential.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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