Shaked, our baby, had a shaky start..
How would you feel if you had a special needs baby and you had nowhere to turn?
Shaked has Down Syndrome, and has a ton of health problems.
We were so young when she was born. We felt all alone. We sat on buses for hours to seek help. We spent many more hours working with her at home on our own. The weight on our shoulders was so heavy …
At six months old, Shaked entered Perach Israel daycare center near our home. Imagine our surprise when the director told us that she would get all the services and treatments she needed right there! In one place!
I was afraid to leave her. Shaked was so tiny and fragile. Even when she was 20 months old, she seemed like a 4 week old baby. That’s how teeny she was.
We never looked back. In fact, we got a new lesson in life. We could finally breathe and know that Shaked was in good hands.
All kind of therapists work together in the daycare center. We feel the warm love and professional care from in every corner. In fact, it felt like Shaked was the only baby in the whole daycare because she got so much attention and love.
The Perach staff is magical.
Today Shaked is 3 years old and she doesn’t stop running. She’s making up for lost time and makes everyone chase her now!
We couldn’t have dreamed up a more dedicated, loving and professional group of people. In fact, our biggest worry was Shaked’s ‘graduation’ out of Perach and into a local preschool. None of us wanted to leave the Perach Miracle.
And now, thanks to you we don’t have to. You made our baby’s continued growth a sure thing!
Thank you so much for opening a Perach Israel preschool in our district this year! The whole family is excited! Thanks to you, Shaked could start preschool in September, make new friends and learn lots of new stuff.
My son Michael talks to me!
Michael is a special kid. He was always sensitive and loving but he couldn’t communicate. Michael lived with his grandmother during the week and I picked him up every Friday to spend the weekends together. I had to keep him apart from the other kids as much as possible because he was so sensitive. The sound of children playing or talking caused him terrible physical pain!
When Michael was two years old, I enrolled him at the Perach Israel day care center in our community. The staff showed incredible patience with him. Over the year, they slowly and methodically got him used to all types of noises, voices and sounds. By the end of the year, Michael was comfortable being around other kids and adults, but he was still not communicative.
The following year, Michael ‘graduated’ daycare and started a Perach preschool. One day his teacher Sarah noticed that Michael was looking at books. He moved his finger along the line of the text and she suspected that he could read.
Shortly thereafter, I sent a video from home (Perach loves to see our kids in their home environment) showing Michael touching a colored shape with embedded words on a floor mat. Sarah suggested I ask Michael to point to the letters next time. So that’s what I did, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Michael knew the alphabet!
Sarah jumped on the opportunity and started teaching Michael to read. Soon enough he could point to words, then short phrases, and now he reads entire books.
Once he could read, the staff channeled Michael’s newfound ability towards communication. He answered questions and typed short phrases on the iPad and computer. Communication started to flow.
Today, thanks to endless dedication, encouragement, and Michael’s new typing skills, he now talks – using his own voice.
The Perach team is amazing. They never give up on any child. Never.
