Sense International - Romania
Early Intervention Programme for deafblind children
Sense International is a global charity supporting deafblind people in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, Romania and Uganda. They are one of the World’s leading international organisations working for deafblind people and their families.
Years: 2008
The ALMT made a grant to Sense International (Romania) to support its Early Intervention Programme which targets babies at risk of deafblindness. The Programme screens and identifies babies in the maternity ward. The aim was to reach deafblind babies and children at the earliest stage possible, in order to ensure that they receive appropriate support to enable them to develop communication, mobility and social skills in the pre-school years, which are so vital to a child’s development. Integral to the project was the involvement of families from assessment through to the development of cognitive and communication skills so that children are supported at home as well as by professionals.
All the staff have substantial experience in working with deafblind children and provide counselling and support to the new parents of a deafblind child, undertake a functional assessment and establish an individualised intervention plan. Over 4,000 new born babies have already benefited from vision and hearing screening and we hope to reach thousands more.
Through Sense International's activities, they create the necessary tools for early diagnosis, treatment and intervention and increase awareness at a national level of their specific needs.
