April 15, 2021
News
Giorgi is a kind 15-year-old boy, but he does not feel comfortable communicating with other people. He was diagnosed with autism, and despite his condition, he attends a public school. Caritas contributed to making public services more accessible for Giorgi – we supported the child and adolescent development centre, founded by Giorgi’s mother in the town of Akhaltsikhe. The region lacked this type of service for children with autism – the closest place was in Tbilisi, three hours’ drive from Akhaltsikhe.
New development centre offers services for children and adolescents
Eliso Tashvelli, Giorgi’s mother and founder of the centre, describes the circumstances behind the establishment of the centre: “We’ve noticed Giorgi’s different behaviour when he was one and a half to two years old. For example, he did not react when called by his name. Giorgi’s behaviour was different than that of other children, and we wanted to consult a specialist.”
The nearest pediatric clinic couldn't give them an answer so Eliso decided to seek help in Tbilisi. "Finally, we were told that Giorgi might have an autism spectrum disorder," says Eliso.
Because she couldn’t find any adequate help for her son in the Akhaltsikhe region, Eliso had to look again for support in Tbilisi. But the program that would help Giorgi required regular attendance at the clinic, and therefore the mother and son would have to drive three hours to Tbilisi, at least two times a week. Moving to Tbilisi could solve the problem, but Giorgi also had difficulty receiving the service over there.
Thus, Eliso decided to open the centre for children and adolescents in Akhaltsikhe and to get help not only for her son but for all children with similar needs in the region.
ABA therapy brings positive changes
“Once we opened the centre, we realised that we need to introduce ABA therapy, but the necessary tools and the training for specialists were too expensive,” explains Eliso. At that point, Caritas Czech Republic offered support to Eliso and her centre and financially covered the autism diagnostic tool and training for two specialists.
It has been six months since the start of the support program of Caritas. Today, the centre provides a wide variety of services, including ABA theraphy, art therapy, and speech therapy.
“The introduction of ABA therapy enabled our centre to launch new services for children in the region and after six months, we noticed positive changes in their development, which their parents have also confirmed,” says Eliso.
Since then, turnout to the centre has considerably increased. “We work not only with children, but also with their parents, to whom we explain there is no need to hide their children, because they have the same rights as children with typical development,” explains Eliso. “That’s why I think our centre has given the parents in the region opportunity to understand the reality their children live in and that they have to fight to get all the services they deserve,” concludes the owner of the development center.
