About SOFIA GOVORKOVA

About NASTYA PETROVA

About SASHA SHEVCHENKO

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Sofia Govorkova February 2007

We are pleased to invite you to take part in our Sponsor A Child Programme (SAC) aimed at supporting children with Down syndrome attending our early intervention programmes. Through sponsoring one particular child you will support all the children of Downside Up. The money we raise will be used towards our programmes for ALL of them. Here we introduce you to a very unusual story. This is the story of Sofia Govorkova. Sofia was born in 2003 and abandoned by her parents at birth, because she was diagnosed with Down syndrome. When Natalia and her husband saw Sofia, their heart broke. At the age of 3.5 her weight was 5 Kilos and 200 grams - she was dying. Natalia and Mikhail have three children on their own and there is one more on the way. One of their daughters, also Sophia and who is 14 months old was born with Down syndrome. However, they didn't hesitate a moment and on 25th December 2006 they adopted Sofia. One month has passed since her adoption. She is happy with her new family and already gained 1.5 Kilos. Now Sofia and her "new" sister attend the Early Intervention Programme at the Downside Up where our teachers help them to develop their best potential; where their parents will receive counseling and psychological support. This is an amazing story of survival. If you would like to contribute for Sofia's development and development of other children like her, please follow the LINK, fill out the form and send it back to us. Thank you! August 2007 Only 6 months have passed since Sofia’s adoption into the Malinin family and she has achieved tremendous progress:  she grew, gained wait and is always seen smiling.  She looks like a happy child that lives in a happy family.    Sofia can sit upright on her own and already makes a  few steps holding her  father’s hand.  She loves to play peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek with her siblings and now that a new sister, Irina, was born a couple of months ago, she loves to play with her as well.   Since Sofia started attending Downside Up, she has learned to place rings on the pyramid, to express her emotions, to play with her toys – her favorite toys are cars, and developed visual-motor coordination.   Now is summer break.  In September Sofia will be back to the centre and our specialists will continue helping her develop skills.   Thank you for contributing to such happy family stories, bringing hope and making life of other families that attend Downside Up Early Intervention Centre better! Our families and we very much appreciate your support. If you would like to support Sofia's development and development of other children like her, please follow the LINK, fill out the form and send it back to us. We can only help children thanks to our sponsors. Our joint efforts can create a brighter future for Russian children with Down syndrome!

 

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NASTYA PETROVA June 2003 Downside Up's specialists started to visit Nastya's family when she was 1.5 years old. Nastya was born at a maternity hospital where doctors pressed Olya, Nastya's mother, to abandon her daughter.

They believed that Nastya had no future and she would never learn to sit, walk and talk. Despite this pressure and after heartbreaking trials, Olya's family refused to give up their daughter. Now, contrary to the gloomy predictions of the doctors, Nastya is a lively girl who likes to run,play and dance, like any other child of her age. From the time Nastya was born, Olya and her husband made all possible efforts to aid the development of their daughter. However, this was a slow process. When they became involved with Downside Up, Nastya started to make fast progress. Home visit specialists visited Nastya's family and instructed her parents how to help their daughter with everyday life in a more efficient way. Natstya also attended an adaptation group where she learned to play with other children. While Olya had a chance to meet other parents with whom she could share the ups and downs. In May 2002 Nastya began to attend a regular kindergarten. Both tutors and children treated her well and she quickly adapted to the new environment. Nastya continues to attend sessions with a speech therapist and cognitive therapist. Thanks to these classes Nastya has improved her pronunciation of sounds and has an increasing vocabulary, which she likes to demonstrate to her parents following her classes at the centre. Nastya's mother says: "I'm very happy that Downside Up exists. I am sure Nastya would have had better results if we had started to attend this centre from her birth." However, what really counts is that Nastya is enjoying a rich and loving childhood in the care of her family.

January 2004 During the past half-year Nastya's oral skills have improved significantly.Her lessons with the speech

therapist and other specialists have helped her to repeat and say some simple words rather clearly. She knows how to read, write, and pronounce the vowels "a", "o", and "u" and continues to learn other letters as well. She can distinguish different simple shapes such as a cube, a triangle, and an oval. In fact, her favorite books are "The Alphabet" and math. She has also started to study numbers. She attends a kindergarten class. She loves children and misses them when she has to stay home. Her Grandmother says that the children from the kindergarten class love her too and call her "our dear Nasten'ka". Nastya likes to play. Her parents have given her a toy-kitchen, and now she "cooks" borsch for her Grandmother. She also "works" as a doctor with her toy-tools. Nastya has learned a song that begins the day at Downside Up, and she reminds her Grandmother about the day they are supposed to go to the centre by singing it. During this academic year, Nastya needs to learn more new things in preparation for attending school. It's everybody's dream for Nastya to attend a regular school, and there is a real possibility that she can accomplish that goal. The first step towards this goal is Nastya's admittance to a regular kindergarten. Since children with Down Syndrome need more time to master reading and writing skills, they start preparing for school well in advance. Now Nastya attends speech therapy sessions where she learns to recognize written words and letters and, very soon, to read. While only a year ago she was using mainly signs, now she has started to put words into sentences and better express her needs. As with other children with Down syndrome, Nastya experiences delays in the development of fine motor skills, which means that it is more difficult for her to learn to write. That is why she needs special sessions with a professional occupational therapist. Unfortunately, at the moment, Downside Up cannot offer this service due to the lack of premises and funds. It would not be possible for Nastya to achieve these impressive results without the full support of her family. After her birth, her parents were strongly recommended to abandon their child. They did not do it, and now Nastya is their second beloved girl. The relationship between the two sisters, as her Grandmother says, is very warm. They miss each other and look forward to spending holidays together. We can only help children thanks to our sponsors. Our joint efforts can create a brighter future for Russian children with Down syndrome!

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SASHA SHEVCHENKO Dear friend! Please let us introduce Sasha Schevchenko who attends Downside Up. Sasha is the third child in Shevchenko family. On the 27th of June, 2004 he

turned 5. When 5 years ago the doctors discovered that newborn Sasha had Down Syndrome they advised the parents to give him up, but despite all the pressure the family decided to bring Sasha up at home. Sasha's involvement with Downside Up began with regular home visits by a teacher. At the age of 2,5 he came to the centre to join the group sessions, which he didn't like in the beginning but gradually he became an active and lively child, readily following teacher's tasks. Sasha doesn't speak much yet, but he really likes to pick up the phone and say "Hello", imitating his grandmother. Right now he can only pronounce well vowels and syllables such as 'pa-ba', 'tu-du' and others. Speech therapy sessions can help to overcome these difficulties but at the moment Downside Up can only provide one session in two weeks. This is not enough to achieve the desired progress. But the sessions are much needed - Sasha is a really capable child. Sasha's family and Downside Up specialists are hoping that at some point Sasha will be able to attend an ordinary kindergarten. It will depend to a great extent on the success in overcoming the speech delay. Sasha enjoys drawing and painting. He also likes books and often gets interested in his brother's books, which is a starting point for debate. Sasha's grandmother says that coming to Downside Up has made serious changes in the life of the family. They realized that there's someone who can help them fight for their son's future, their situation is not hopeless and that they shouldn't despair. Talking to other families who have kids with Down syndrome and sessions with Downside Up specialists help them feel more confident about Sasha's future. We can only help children thanks to our sponsors. Your contribution makes such a difference to Sasha Schevchenko and all the children of Downside Up.