Once it was difficult to imagine that children with TMND (severe and multiple disorders of psychophysical development) will be adopted and loved as their own. Now we hear more and more such successful stories. For example, in almost a year at the Skolkovsky Center for Training, 5 children were placed in families, two of these children were actively engaged in the Portage method in order to acquire vital skills. Since for children with TMNR, learn how to hold a spoon, dress, play with toys, brush their teeth, etc. often extremely difficult due to health limitations.
A very warm meeting with the team of the Skolkovsky Center for Stress Warfare, Moscow. Firstly, we held an on-line meeting with this team.
“Tell me, how did your team manage to cope with the uncertainty and pandemic, and how did you manage to keep working with children to practice life skills? How are you and what is happening now? ” Is our first question to each team. We are currently running a series of meetings with each of the 15 Portage teams to set up online interactions.
“Our institution has become completely for orphans. Before that, there were parental children. In connection with this reorganization, there have also been changes in the composition of the children participating in the project. Last year 30 children took part in the project. But this year, new ones came who have just begun to study according to the method. There is also good news – two children, the participants of the Portage project have found a family. And we know that the Portage system has done a lot for parents to focus their attention on these children. ” – said the project manager and team leader Maria Nikolaevna Mashkova.
All classes on the project were held at the Skolkovsky Center for Stress Relief on a regular schedule, despite the pandemic. Even when the specialists were on duty, they conducted classes as usual.
“We have Open House Days. These days, potential parents come looking for “their” child. Now there are professional families that are engaged in the upbringing of children. People come who are just discovering the possibilities of guardianship. And on this day, each child has the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, abilities, independence, individuality. And the Portage classes provide more opportunities. ” – say the team’s experts.
It is much better for any children to live in a family than in a children’s institution, according to the specialists of the Skolkovsky Center. This is partly why they are so warm to their charges and use additional methods to develop the vital skills of children.
The Portage system contains algorithms for teaching children with TMNR more than 600 skills: infant skills, which, by the way, may be absent in children with TMNR at the age of 12 and 16, cognition, self-service, movement, speech and communication skills, as well as socialization.
We appreciate the cooperation with the Skolkovsky Center for Stress Relief and We hope that our joint projects will bring tangible help to our wards. And there is still a lot to be done before all orphans with TMNR find their home, their family. But even then, the staff of the Center will be ready to provide assistance and support to the parents of children with TMND.