Photos: Marco Lara.
Considering the high prevalence of autism diagnoses today, it is necessary for the population to have access to a professional and quality assessment carried out by multidisciplinary and specialized teams, allowing early detection and timely intervention of this condition, which is crucial to promote the development and quality of life of these people.
To provide an accurate response to this reality, the CeDi Child and Youth Development Center was created. It carries out multidisciplinary work with professionals with training and experience in neurodevelopment and learning, offering comprehensive and personalized care, and with a focus on the family, since its active role promotes participation and adaptation in the community. Located at Los Corraleros 1808, El Polo sector, Machalí, this center specialized in neurodiversity has various specialties such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychology, psychopedagogy, special education, kinesiology and nutrition. These areas are part of the therapy in the care of the Autism Spectrum, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, Language Development Disorder, Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), feeding challenges, learning, emotional and behavioral difficulties, among other conditions.
Josefina Castiglioni, founder and director of CeDi, is a Special Educator from the Universidad Central de Chile and a Master from the U. Complutense de Madrid, with training in neurodiversity and child development. While doing a postgraduate degree in Early Care in Spain, during 2017, she personally learned about the operation of the Child Development and Early Care Centers and their impact on the development of children and especially their families. “When I returned to Chile, I always had in mind to implement a center with a different approach, under a family-centered, close and warm model, in which the potential of each child and young person would be prioritized, favoring the development and quality of life of each one through therapeutic intervention,” she explains.
“The creation of CeDi from the beginning has been a journey full of challenges, to be able to implement a welcoming space with a team of committed professionals, and thus offer quality therapies, considering the individual characteristics of each child and young person, their family situation and environment,” adds Josefina. Likewise, they seek to integrate into the therapies those families that cannot afford these interventions, “so we have established alliances with organizations to be able to offer scholarships that allow us to support and accompany families in the commune that do not have the financial resources.”
TEApoyo
The TEApoyo program was created at CeDi based on the needs of families who have an autistic child, considering that they require different therapies on a weekly and long-term basis, which undoubtedly means a high cost, says its director. In addition, it has different intervention options and work modalities, depending on the needs of each person, so the program is flexible and adapts to each family, with individualized interventions and sessions with other peers to enhance various skills.
Also as part of this program, the center carries out an evaluation process based on good practices with a team of professionals from different disciplines with experience and training, along with the application of standardized instruments such as the ADOS-2 observation scale and the ADI-R interview that seek to support the clinical diagnosis process.
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