Organiser: Aspanias (Association for parents of people with intellectual disabilities).
Collaborating organisation: Ramon Molinas Foundation.
Dates of implementation: 01/01/2015 – 31/12/2015.
New grants to encourage the social integration of children and young people who suffer from intellectual disabilities or developmental disorders
The Ramon Molinas Foundation has extended its collaboration with the Aspanias association in order to encourage the social integration of children and young people under 18 who suffer from an intellectual disability or developmental disorder. The RMF has assigned nine grants to families with financial difficulties to benefit from the Therapeutic Care Service (SAT) for a year, which the organisation runs in Barcelona.
The grants, valued at 2,475 euros, include a package of 52 sessions which include home visits, weekly therapy for a year, two sessions with the child neurologist and an epicritic report.
A commission made up of a social worker, the technical director of SAT and the manager of Aspanias selected the families who best matched the profile intended for the grants.
The services of SAT
The Therapeutic Care Service is made up of five professional coordinators and a technical director. Aspanias also has on its team a psychologist specialised in children and adolescents, a speech therapist, a psychologist specialised in adults, a physiotherapist and a music therapist.
The centre offers psychological care for children and teenagers, and their families. Its main areas of work include learning difficulties, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), behavioural difficulties, and sociability and emotional problems.
Moreover, the SAT offers speech therapy services to work on speech and language disorders, pedagogical care services, social care services, physiotherapy sessions and music therapy sessions.
Aspanias, an award-winning association with a long history
The Aspanias association was created in 1962 by a group of parents worried about the needs of their children. Its objective was to work towards achieving the normalisation and social integration of people with intellectual disabilities. Over more than 50 years the organisation has dedicated itself to fulfilling the needs of this group, from young children to elderly patients.
The association, which helps 400 people annually, was declared a non-profit organisation in 1970 and the Catalan local government awarded it the Cross of Saint George on the 3rd December 1987.
The Aspanias Therapeutic Care Service was created in 1997 as a result of an emerging need to look after children and teenagers of school age with different difficulties or disorders in their development. At the end of 2013, Aspanias inaugurated a new building to offer this service. The Ramon Molinas Foundation supported the building’s refurbishment, investing a third of the 90,000 euro cost of the building works.
Aside from this service, Aspanias has a network of assisted apartments and residences, and an Early Intervention and Child Development Centre (CDIAP) which looks after children from zero to six years old. It also provides a Psychological Care Centre for Adults, a Leisure Service and an Orientation and Information Service.
Nine grants for families with financial difficulties to ensure they are not left outside of the service
Due to the current economic climate, Aspanias noticed that the number of sessions requested by families had reduced considerably over the previous six years. Moreover, the number of cases of interrupted treatment for children and young people with serious social disorders had increased. The consequences of failing to provide continuity with these processes are dramatic. Children and young people remain at a standstill, causing a barrier which gets worse until they reach adulthood.
To avoid this situation, the Ramon Molinas Foundation created the opportunity, for the second consecutive year, to offer annual grants to families with financial difficulties in order to provide specialised treatment for their children. The objective is that through intense work and the necessary tools, the quality of life of the beneficiaries will improve, helping them to face the challenges that come with maturity.
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