Organizer: Aspanias (Association of parents of people with mental retardation).

Collaborative institutions: Ramon Molinas Foundation, Fundació Ferrer Eguizábal and Fundació La Caixa.

Implementation Schedule: 27/05/2013 – 30/09/2013.

The rehabilitation of the SAT of Aspanias, a center to promote the social integration of people who suffer from some developmental disorder or intellectual disability

Ramon Molinas Foundation collaborates with the rehabilitation of the headquarters of the SAT that the Aspanias Association has in Barcelona. The center, located in the neighbourhood of Raval, will serve to promote the social integration of children over six years old and adolescents who suffer from some developmental disorder or intellectual disability. Also, it offers assistance to the families.

In order to materialize the rehabilitation, RMF will invest a third of the 90,000 euros that the works cost. Fundació Ferrer Eguizábal and Fundació La Caixa have also taken part in the project of restyling the SAT headquarters, where it is foreseen that 240 individual sessions can be carried out every month.

At the center, services specialized in psychology, speech, physiotherapy, and music therapy will be offered. With the new SAT headquarters, Aspanias also intends to expand the therapeutic attention to low-income families with a system of scholarships and aids.

SAT services

The Therapeutic Care Service (SAT) consists of five professionals coordinated by a technical director. Aspanias has a psychologist specialized in children and adolescents, a speech therapist, a psychologist specialized in adults, a physiotherapist and a music therapist.

The operation of the service is simple. After carrying out an exploration and a diagnosis, a personalized attention is offered, which varies according to the needs of the user. The modalities of the therapy, depending on cases and necessities, can be: individual, group, and of family attention.

At the center, a psychological service for children, adolescents, and their families is offered. The main lines of work of the service are learning disorders, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (TDAH), behavioural difficulties, and social and emotional problems.

Besides, at the SAT speech services are offered in order to treat speech and language disorders, as well as pedagogical care services, social attention services, physiotherapy, and music therapy services.

Aspanias, an awarded association with a long history

A group of parents concerned about the needs of their children created the Aspanias association in 1963 with the aim of achieving the standardization and social integration of people with intellectual disability. Throughout more than 50 years of history, the entity has worked in order to satisfy the needs of this collective, from childhood to old age.

The association, which assists 400 people annually, was declared of public utility in 1970 and the Generalitat de Catalunya granted it with the Creu de Sant Jordi on December 3^rd, 1987.

The Therapeutic Care Service of Aspanias was born in 1997 as an emergent need to assist children and adolescents at school stage with different difficulties or disorders in their development. Besides this service, Aspanias has a network of supervised flats, a Center of Development and Early Care (CDIAP), where children of both sexes are assisted from 0 to 6 years old, a psychology counselling service for adults, a leisure service, and a guidance and information service.

The new premises, a need

Since September 2012, and due to the emergent demand, Aspanias thought convenient to restructure their services. Until then, the association worked with children aged between 6 and 16, but thought timely to dedicate their efforts to the early care of children between 0 and 6 years old.

This circumstance limited Aspanias, since they could not assist the desired number of patients. Given the necessity, it was considered suitable to give the kick off to the SAT rehabilitation in order to assist a higher number of children and adolescents, and adapt it to the new needs of the treatments.

Links of interest:

Aspanias website.