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Children with special needs tend to isolate from the society, limiting their social contacts to family members and becoming dependent on mother’s constant care of them. The latter not only impedes the children’s acquisition of social skills, but also considerably changes the daily life of the family members. The parent has to quit the job, sacrificing the opportunity to make a career and to benefit to the well-being of the family.

To provide efficient help to children with disabilities, the “SOURCE” Foundation, established three years ago, has also included their families to its target group. In 2016, VivaCell-MTS has joined the Foundation in the implementation of its goals.

According to the press statement by VivaCell-MTS, for the first time in Armenia 51 classes, aimed at preparing individual tutors, have been organized by leading organizations and professionals in this sphere throughout 2016. As a result of the implemented program, 15 out of 50 specialists have started working as permanent and 5 of them – as temporary tutors in 32 families. They provide 8-hour care to children, organize their entertainment and treatment.

In a short period of time, the five-member team of pedagogue-tutors and coordinators has succeeded in reaching tangible results, improving the life quality of the families, creating opportunities for the development of the children, and, last but not least, making it possible for the mothers to work full time. The individual tutors, aside from the professional competence, also have basic literacy in medicine, which allows them to provide necessary care to children. The pedagogue-tutors take care of the children at home, at school and in rehabilitation centers. A special mechanism has been elaborated to control the efficiency of the tutors. Once a week a group of 3 specialists visit the beneficiary families to make an individual development plan for the children and to receive feedback about the relations between the tutors, children and the parents.

Marina Parazyan, the director of “SOURCE” Foundation, notes that they have managed to achieve the key objectives of the program. In particular, the Foundation has succeeded in uniting various organizations providing specialized care to children with disabilities, as well as in creating jobs for young specialists in this sphere, supporting the families in the target group and helping the children.