“Help in Blue”

The leader of the „Help in Blue” („Pomagamy na niebiesko”) project is the Malborska Fundacja Rozwoju Regionalnego (Malbork Regional Development Foundation). The project was created in partnership with the Specjalny Ośrodek Rewalidacyjno-Wychowawczy dla Dzieci i Młodzieży z Autyzmem (Special Revalidation-Pedagogical Centre for Autistic Children and Youths) (SORW) in Malbork under the Regional Operational Programme of the Pomorskie Voivodeship for the years 2014-2020 The main goal of the project was to establish a day-care facility for children with autism comorbid with intellectual disabilities.

The author and head of the project is a working mother of an autistic child. The idea was to create a socio-therapeutic dayroom, which will operate outside the business hours of the centre. Due to the fact that the centre would care for kids for 5 hours only, a day-care was created, where kids and youths would be in the care of therapists for the remaining three hours of the workday. This would allow parents to combine caring for their children and professional activity with more ease.

The project is targeted at children and youths between 3 and 18 years old diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum, living within the Malborski District, Sztumski District, Tczew Municipality, and Nowy Dwór Gdański Municipality.  Priority is given to kids diagnosed with „comorbid autism”. However, the SORW also offers help to children not being a part of the centre.

Thanks to EU subsidies, additional didactic equipment could be purchased for the facility to help develop the kids’ visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic perception, motor functions, mathematical and speaking skills etc. and support could be given to parents in the scope of strategies of preventing and handling crises.

The facility started operations in November 2018 and to this day provides comprehensive care for autistic children and youths and support to their families. The project manager develops subsequent strategies to keep the day-care in operation for as long as possible, as it is a crucial factor for the wellbeing of its charges and their families.