Ann Sullivan model will be established in Panama

Owing to the visit of the First Lady of The Republic of Panama, Marta Linares de Martinelli, to the Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú (CASP) some months ago - where she showed admiration for the extraordinary and encouraging achievements they obtained there, and seeing children and teenagers with different abilities share their homework with their parents and taking part in daily activities they couldn’t do before, she realized that the tenacity and dedication of the people working in the center made them possible.

This persistent and dedicated work is reflected in each person who attends CASP, and who comes to terms with and manages better his/her autistic disorder day after day. For this reason, SENADIS (National Secretariat for Disability in Panama) and the First Lady of Panama invited Dr. Liliana Mayo, Founder and General Director of CASP, to participate in the conference titled “ Educating children with autism to be successful in life”, held November 12-13 in Panama city. Panama’s authorities and health professionals were in attendance at the event.

Both Dr. Mayo and the First Lady expressed their wish to establish a “Centro Ann Sullivan” in Panama soon. After thanking Dr. Mayo for coming and sharing her knowledge and congratulating SENADIS on organizing this autism training session for parents and technicians, the First Lady said, “I still remember the day a father who had visited CASP told me that children with different abilities, and their parents, are trained to be rehabilitated into society in the Ann Sullivan Center … and THAT”S THE WAY!”

Finally, the First Lady of Panama, who found herself motivated and was motivating those present in the conference, finished by saying: “God willing, soon we will start our Ann Sullivan Center in Panama. In this way, the seeds of knowledge that are sowed today will produce the best results for many children and teenagers with different abilities, that will benefit from this center.”

CASP organizes a conference-workshop titled “How to develop appropriate behaviors, and to keep them, in our children and students”

The Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru (CASP) and the Schiefelbusch Lifespan Institute University of Kansas, under the auspices of the U.S. National Institute of Health and the University of Iowa Global Campus (creator of the “Elluminate Live” system), invite you to participate in the last conference-workshop 2010, “How to develop appropriate behaviors, and to keep them, in our children and students” that will be given by Dr. Liliana Mayo, Founder and General Director of CASP.

This conference-workshop is aimed at health professionals, teachers and parents with children with different abilities (those ones with cognitive, physical and behavioral limitations).

The purpose of the conference is to inform about the role of parents and professionals in education of people with different abilities, and teach these appropriate behaviors using examples of modeling and videos, and cues we must take into account to promote these behaviors.

DATE: Saturday, November 20^th, 2010.

TIME: From 9:00 to 11:30 am (exactly at the time named).

PLACE: Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru - Calle Petrolina Alvarez 180 – Urb. Pando 5ta. Etapa – San Miguel (Near the block 16 Av. La Marina – on a street that runs parallel to block 7 Av. Universitaria)

COST: FREE OF CHARGE

REGISTRATION: It is carried out in the Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru, located at Calle Petronila Álvarez, No. 180, 5ta Etapa Urb. Pando, San Miguel) or clicking the registration link ‘Registration Form’.

Deadline for registration is November 19^th.

People who live in other cities of Peru or in another country have to contact the facilitator in their city. For more information see Distance Learning Education Facilitators.

Finally, people living in province who are interested in promoting training courses CASP offers or receiving more information about out training program can contact the Project and Research Area at 263-6296 / 263-4880 extension 120.

Four young people with different abilities will work a the Ministry of Health

Four young people with different abilities has been hired to work at different departments in the Ministry of Health (Minsa in Spanish) thanks to an agreement reached with the Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú (CASP).

Peruvian Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte Ubilluz and CASP Director, Liliana Mayo, signed this important document in the presence of these young people with autism and their families. Ernesto Salamanca, a blind physician who gives free health information over the phone in the Office for Health Defender and Transparency at Minsa, was present at the agreement signing ceremony.

Minsa has become the first public institution in Peru to hire people with different abilities and it is expected that other public sector organizations follow suit.

This agreement is part of a plan to promote inclusion of these special people into the Ministry of Health, a policy the present administration supports.

19-year-old Martin Perez, 18-year-old Gustavo Quispe, 19-year-old Silvia Ochante and Robert Salas, 29, have been taken on to put a code on documents, file them or do any task that has been assigned to them at the offices of Minsa.

“Today is an important day because we have fulfilled a promise we made some months ago. The ministry has adopted an open door policy for people with different abilities, and as a result the number of people who work for our institution increases. We hope that more people like them join Minsa”, Ugarte Ubillus affirmed.

On the other hand, the Director of the Centro Ann Sullivan of Peru specified that specialists of the supported employment program would teach tasks to these young people until they could do by themselves. She added that from now on “the Health Minister is a minister with a big heart.”

We are grateful to Minister Oscar Ugarte for this great opportunity. Other authorities promised to find a job for our students but they didn’t keep their word. However, the Ministry of Health honors it and becomes a pioneer in giving our young people with different abilities the opportunity to work for his institution,” affirmed Dr. Mayo.

This program allows our students to improve their self-esteem and relationships with other people, develop new skills, participate in community activities and improve their quality of life through a salary that provides economic independence.

At present, 100 students of CASP work at 33 important companies, while other 72 students are included into 52 regular schools. In the last two years, more than 12,000 parents and professionals working with people with different abilities have been trained in 22 departments of Peru, and in 10 Latin America and European countries, through a new distance learning program using Internet.

Conference given by Dr. Linda Lawrence

The Fourth Conference-Workshop titled “How to know if your child has a vision problem and its relationship to learning problems” was carried out on Saturday October 24th via Elluminate Live, through the University of Iowa Global Campus. Dr. Linda Lawrence, an internationally recognized ophthalmologist who is specialized in treating and rehabilitating people with different abilities, gave this conference. Dr. Jorge Lembcke and Claudia Checa performed the simultaneous interpretation from English into Spanish and vice versa.

Dr. Lawrence used many examples and a simple language to identify when a person with different abilities is experiencing vision problems in order to refer him/her to the specialist for evaluation and subsequent treatment, avoiding problems in the learning process in this way.

300 conference participants were connected from Peruvian cities such as Arequipa, Caráz, Chiclayo, Cusco, Huaral, Mollendo, Moquegua, Pacasmayo, Distrito de San Juan de Miraflores, Sicuani, Tacna, Lima; and cities from other countries such as Argentina (La Plata, Trelew), Ecuador (El Fortín, Quito & Ricaurte), México (Hidalgo, Oaxaca), Guatemala, Panamá, Bolivia (Cochabamba) and Spain (Barcelona).

Finally, we give our new facilitators Francisco Urbistondo in Barcelona (Spain) and Izbeth Lazarte in Cochabamba (Bolivia) a very warm welcome.

Office of Projects and Investigations

Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú - CASP

263-6296 / 263-4880 anexo 120

E-mail: asistente_proyectos@annsullivanperu.org