Let's run to the kindergarten!
Young Ukrainian children with developmental risks and delays together with their parents are finding the support they need in Slovakia
It is almost nine o’clock in the morning and Pavel, a four-year-old boy from Ukraine, is joyfully running to be the first to open the doors of the Play and Learning Hub in Dubravka, Bratislava, while his mom, Inna, tries to keep up the pace with him. He cannot wait to be inside and meet his very young friends, with whom he is going to spend a fun day. But before that, Pavel has another appointment.
At the entrance, he is greeted by his therapist, Olga, who takes them to her office. While they walk, Inna updates Olga about how Pavel is doing, so that Olga can prepare for their work together.
Inna came to Bratislava, together with her two children – Pavel and Alexandra – in March, from Kharkiv, Ukraine, where Pavel was regularly attending kindergarten and receiving support from different specialists. When Pavel was two, a screening discovered that he had developmental difficulties, including autism spectrum disorder and delayed speech.
“The first thing we did, when we came here, was to find a school for Alexandra and specialists for Pavel,” says Inna. “While we got a lot of support, it was very difficult because all available specialists only spoke Slovak, and Pavel had just started to speak Russian very recently. It was very difficult for him to receive additional support, but his therapy needed to continue,” she concludes.
In October, Inna learned about the Play and Learning Hub in Dubravka, set-up by UNICEF and the City of Bratislava. She started bringing Pavel to the Hub in October. He started playing here and this is where he also met Dr. Olga Ivannikova-Mirgorodskaya, a Ukrainian neurologist and psychologist from Kyiv, who supports Pavel’s development through weekly exercises they do together.
“I do different exercises with all children here four times a week, and I also provide counselling for parents. At the Play and Learning Hub, we have children with various developmental delays who need different types of support,” says Olga.
Inclusiveness and engagement of early childhood intervention professionals were important priorities for UNICEF and the City of Bratislava in the establishment of the Play and Learning Hubs.
Inna sees visible progress with Pavel since he started working with Olga. “It took him some time to adapt, but now he is literally running to the kindergarten. He is participating in sports activities, ceramics classes, and he likes other children and his educator. We even have a game we play every morning: Let’s run to the kindergarten!”
UNICEF has supported the opening of 23 Play and Learning Hubs across 13 municipalities in Slovakia and is expanding access to regular kindergartens to ensure all young children from Ukraine and Slovakia can benefit from early childhood education and care.
For many children like Pavel, language is one of the barriers preventing them from accessing much needed developmental support. In partnership with the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), UNICEF is working to ensure support for young children with developmental risks and delays through expansion of existing services and training of Ukrainian early childhood development professionals. The project runs in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Moldova with the aim to reach 12,000 families with this support. In addition, UNICEF is providing cash assistance to refugee families with children in Slovakia.
