Education is something that a lot of us take for granted, but, sadly, many schools lack the resources to help children with special needs reach their full potential.
This Christmas, give the gift of education by donating what you can to Down Syndrome Ireland’s (DSI) appeal to get more resources for children in mainstream schools.
DSI consists of a national office in Dublin, with a team of extremely dedicated and experienced professionals, and 26 very active branches around the country.
With the support of the national office, these branches are run by parents and relatives who volunteer their time and work tirelessly to provide vital services at a local level. Services include a home teacher programme, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and Latch On - a very successful adult literacy programme.
Sadly, the DSI is under-resourced, and they need to raise vital funds to ensure they can support families across Ireland, as well as offer resources to children attending mainstream national schools.
They have one full-time and two part-time education officers, who work closely with children, parents and teachers and visit homes and schools each week, but they need to recruit another person full-time.
Children with Down syndrome really need more hands on support when they start school, the teachers need training on how to teach children with Down syndrome - it is very specialised training.
They hope to rise €50,000 for this project, and would appreciate any donation big or small that you can offer them.
To support the campaign, click here.
