Down Syndrome Associtation - Tshwane

Postal Address:

54 Hofmeyer

P O Box 16677, Lytelton

0140

Website: www.downsyndromepretoria.co.za

OFFICE HOURS: Monday - Friday 08h00-13h00 Due to counselling, new parents visits or outreach work the phone may not be answered. Petra Le Roux 072 225 5409 petra@downs.org.za OR contact Ancella Ramjas during office hours 012 664 8928 ancella@downs.org.za

SERVICES OFFERED

The Association consist of more of less six hundred members from the Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Free State and North-West Province. 300 members are families of children with Down syndrome and 300 professionals working with persons with Down syndrome.

Office and Library The Association owns a Centre where a well-stocked library with books, videos, cassettes and magazines are based. The most important channel of communication is our magazine, the DS Bulletin and website, through which recent research information are distributed to a variety of stakeholders in the field of disability. We know that it keeps members up to date with international trends in the field of Down syndrome.

Support service This organisation has trained support parents who visit the parents of a newborn baby with Down syndrome in the hospital and at home in order to provide information and the necessary emotional support. At the moment the birth rate of children with Down syndrome is 1 in every 700 babies and therefore we are inundated with requests for aid and support. Our support service extended to the Gauteng, North-West Province, Mpumalanga, Northern Province and Free State.

Early intervention It has been shown that with the necessary stimulation, children with Down syndrome make wonderful progress and can even go to ordinary schools, To help children to reach their maximum potential and to prepare the children for ordinary school, the Association refers families to the nearest therapists.

Inclusion projects The Association can provide a service to parents and children who are already incorporated in the mainstream of education or who find it difficult to enrol their child with special educational needs into ordinary schools. Facilitators visit the schools on request, and twice a year a teacher-training workshop is presented. Many of the children in the Pretoria branch are currently attending ordinary classes.

Outreach Weekly parent guidance and training programs are presented in Atterigeville and Garankuwa. Children with Down syndrome (0 – 11 years) as well as children with a developmental delay are accommodated in this programme. Counsellors from the communities are running these centres once a week. A speech – and occupational therapist visit these centres weekly.

Jeans and Tekkies Teenage Club We started a social club for our teenagers and young adults with Down syndrome. One in every three months we have a sokkie/disco night for them. Once every year we also have a teenage camp for our young adults. The ultimate goal of this club is to facilitate the process through which adults and teenagers with Down syndrome can reach a level of social independence that could facilitate their inclusion into the open labour market.

Supported employment The DS Association is in the process of starting Supported employment. The idea for people with intellectual disability is to work in the open labour market. Young adults with Down syndrome could be integrated. The main goal is to help all persons with Down syndrome can reach a level of social independence that could facilitate their inclusion into the open labour market.