Recently the world marked International Down Syndrome Day. In Ukraine, as a rule, the parents of children with this disorder draw attention to their problems through participation in NGOs. This is a kind of self-help. How much the Kyiv authorities care is evident if you look the place where the conference on this topic was held — the building of a former kindergarten that required repairs to the tune of 268,000 hryvnias. The local authorities allowed this building to be used for the Center for Early Development, which is scheduled to open in September 2010.
Children with Down syndrome, just like all adults and children, have the right to education and, moreover, to additional attention of experts. This can be done in the specialized early development centers. There are no such centers in Kyiv as yet. That is why it is virtually impossible to fully prepare children with Down syndrome for the kindergarten or school. Serhii Kurianov, president of the Ukrainian-wide charity organization Down Syndrome, notes that families that are raising such children do so on their own. The 520 families that participate in the Down Syndrome organization are equipped better: they use the manuals, which they receive from abroad or found on the Internet. But the parents can hardly replace qualified teachers, defectologists, psychologists, and other experts, who are vitally important for the full development of the child.
Down Syndrome Education International fund (DSEI), represented by its chief executive, Frank Buckley, is ready to share its experience with the Ukrainian colleagues and offer modern methods of education and the newest educational technologies in the field. These programs make it possible to teach children with Down Syndrome effectively and integrate them into the society in the future. Everything they need is a clean well-lit place, manuals, and experts ready to learn. Every oblast center should have at least on such center.
