Service Offering
Daycare and 24-hour Residential Care services to sensory multi-disabled children
The Association for the Sensory Disabled manages two programmes:
1. Sean Kelly Special Care Centre provides daycare services to 43 sensory multi-disabled children from the Breede Valley area.
2. The Sean Kelly Child and Youth Care Centre is a residential facility where we provide 24-hour care to 14 severely disabled destitute children and as such we take care of their educational, developmental and housing needs.
Special Care Centre
The main target group consists of mutli-disabled children diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, untreatable hydrocephalous, autism, developmental disabilities as well as loss of hearing and/or sight.
Child and Youth Care Centre
We deliver 24-hour care to 14 multi-disabled children at our residential facility with 3 home-based caregivers per shift who are solely responsible for the care of these children.
Demographics
Our target group consists of multi-disabled children diagnosed with various disabilities, eg. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, untreatable hydrocephalous, autism, developmental disabilities, as well as deafness and/or blindness.
partnerships
Physio-, Speech and Occupational Therapy students from the Ukwanda Rural Clinical School (Stellenbosch University) receive valuable experience during their practical rotations at our centres.
SEAN KELLY Special Care Centre
(Daycare)
At the SEAN KELLY SPECIAL CARE CENTRE, a structured routine of education and development in line with each child’s special needs, are followed daily. The children also receive physio- and speech therapy weekly. The ASD facilitators receive guidance from the students of Stellenbosch University’s Ukwanda Rural Clinical School, who gain valuable knowledge and experience during their rotations at our centre.
Our children are divided into small groups according to their needs and disabilities. We have seven therapy groups, namely Down syndrome, Autistic, cerebral palsy, ADHD and children with hydrocephalus. Each child has his or her own therapy programme, which is evaluated by the CSPID teams (Children with Severe to Profound Intellectual Disabilities) quarterly.
Most of our children are affected by Cerebral Palsy, a congenital disorder due to abnormal brain development. This affects their movement, muscle tone and/or posture for which they need physiotherapy daily.
Physio-, speech and occupational therapists visit our centre weekly to ensure that each child’s therapy programme is suited to their individual developmental needs.
DAILY PROGRAMME:
ASD is a Christian institution where we start our day with a morning ring, where the children sing songs and short stories are read from the Bible.
We teach the children the importance of hygiene and focus on regular toilet routines to adapt from wearing diapers. Our daily programme involves gross motor and fine motor exercises which are critical to our children’s development.
The group discusses the theme of the term. Our children get to count from 1 – 10 and name the days of the week and the months. We focus on one theme per term. During the afternoon we have a music ring with movements and story time.
SEAN KELLY Child and Youth Care Centre
(24-Hour Residential)
At the SEAN KELLY CHILD AND YOUTH CARE CENTRE we deliver 24-hour care to 14 multi-disabled children. As a registered Child and Youth Care Centre through the Department of Social Development, all children must be placed through court orders according to the Children’s Act 38 of 2005.
The Sean Kelly CYCC is registered with the Department of Health as a Community Mental Health Facility to provide specialised residential care to 14 children. Twelve home-based caregivers are employed at the facility working in shift teams of 3. They are solely responsible for the care and safety of the children and are trained for to the specific needs of our children. Our staff are all dedicated and passionate about our children’s care and development.
Most of our children suffer from chronic diseases and must attend doctor’s appointments at the Community Day Centre and Worcester Provincial Hospital on a regular basis. Other regular services include seating assessments for the mobile devices by the Day Clinic’s Physiotherapy department as well as dietician evaluations.
The residential centre currently only receives funding from the Department of Social Development per child and is mostly relient on the community and fundraising effort to ensure all needs are met. We provide the following for our children:
- Clothing and toiletries
- 3 Meals per day (including special dietary requirements, eg. Ensure, Pediasure and special feeding for Nasogastric tube feeding)
- Medical care (our children suffer from chronic conditions eg. Epilepsy and are under permanent care from medical practitioners and the Worcester Community Clinic/Provincial Hospital)
- Diapers for 11 of the 14 children
- Daycare services at the Sean Kelly Special Care Centre
Our greatest challenge is finding appropriate facilities for our children when turning 18 years of age. ASD dreams of opening an 24-Hour residential care facility for multi-disabled adults whereto our children can be transfered upon turning 18.
The current facility is based in a residential home rented from Innovation for the Blind. We endevour to aquire our own facilities to accommodate the Special Care Centre, Child and Youth Care Centre for our children as well as our dream of a 24-hour Residential home for adults.
Demographics
The main target group consists of disabled children suffering from cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, untreatable hydrocephalous, autism, developmental disabilities, as well as deafness and blindness.
Our children have severe intellectual disabilities and need 24hr care. The parents also benefit from support groups, initiated by ASD, to promote skills development and job creation. The greater percentage of our beneficiaries is from the Coloured community.
We provide –
- Two healthy meals a day.
- Daily physiotherapy exercises
- A structured daily routine and program with sensory stimulation hygiene activities i.e. brushing of teeth after meals, changing of nappies, etc.
- Involvement of the parents or guardian in the care of their disabled child
- A parent support group hosted by the attending therapists. (Attending therapists hosted the Hambisela training program to train parents and staff on the special needs of children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.)
- Provision of sensory multi-disabled children with one-on-one tuition and therapy to maximise their development and to improve these services continuously
- The services of an Occupational Therapist on session basis to assist us in evaluating children recently enrolled at our day-care Centre
- Daily transport for disabled children between their homes and the Centre, the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre and doctors and clinics as needed
- To take responsibility for the sustainability of the project by planning fundraising projects and mobilising the community to take ownership of community-based care such as provided by the Sean Kelly Training Centre.
Achievements
The Association for the Sensory Disabled [ASD] enjoyed tremendous success over the past couple of years. The project developed from what was initially a day-care facility only, to what it is today: the only facility in the Worcester area that cares for sensory multi-disabled children, offering them sensory stimulation, physiotherapy and other activities. These activities would not have been available to them if they were lying at home in a confined space, in absolute solitude:
- Therapy areas have been transformed into interactive learning environments.
- Sensory room with special sensory stimulation programs developed
- Individualized programs in communication introduced
- Training of staff
- The establishment of the Sean J Kelly Group Home as a house of safety for severely multi-disabled destitute children who have nowhere else to go
- ASD managed to secure funding from the National Lottery to purchase a vehicle which we received on 30 November 2010. We are now able to transport our own children to and from the centre.
- With the funding we received from the National Lottery we can transform our therapy areas in an attractive learning environment and a source of hope for all parties involved, the children, parents and employees. The funding gave us the opportunity to improve our physiotherapy activities. Training is provided to staff in physiotherapy and occupational therapy to improve mobility and to ensure a better service to our children. Each child follows a special stimulation programme which suits his / her needs. Most of our children need one – on – one intervention. The aim of the training is to create a sustainable project that will continue long after the funding has ceased.