Color and music, special language innovated for communication with children with CP

Damascus, SANA_ Caring about children with special needs in any country is a very important issue that necessitates collective efforts by the family, the society and the government. Dialogue with color and harmony with music is a special language innovated by the Association of Caring for Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) to communicate with children and open new prospects for them to interact with the world and move towards a better life. In Syria, over the past two decades, greater attention has been accorded to the issue of helping children with special needs overcome their disability and be effective in their society. Beside the support provided by the government and social parties to this category of the Syrian society, individual initiatives by good doers are made to give a helping hand to those people particularly under the extraordinary circumstances caused by the tragic events in the country. The staff of the association, whether employees or volunteers, seeks to benefit from the state of joy created by the musical tones and the love of the children to color to gladden their hearts through various activities that are periodically held with the aim of making a real change in the lives of children and their vision for the future. Making them enjoy a happy childhood is the basic goal of the association, according to Ghazl Shabani, the public relations officer , through the various services the association provides including psychosocial support, counseling and therapeutic plans, hydrotherapy therapy as means of physical therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy in addition to intellectual development and mental testing, drawing on the efforts of doctors and specialists in these fields. Humanitarian work can succeed only if it combines the love, tenderness and humanity that appeared in the features of female employees and volunteers while helping children integrate and invent whatever can bring joy to their hearts. Salam al-Khatib, a volunteer in the Association, considers the time spent with children as a great value given to her life, pointing to her continuous participation in the periodic activities of children of the association, which bring happiness and joy to the hearts of children. Al-Khatib believes that music and color positively affect the children life, draw their attention to the state of joy and make a noticeable change in their behavior, noting that the feeling of love and care makes the child positively interacts with society. Giving what is effective, even simple, is what the volunteer Ala Qarahadid has done to children through spending a lot of time with them, participating in their activities and offering gifts to them because children like to interact with people and feel grateful when attention given to them. Since she is in direct and daily contact with the children in their various activities, Nemat Coker, an employee of the association, talked about the importance of painting in the life of children with CP and its role in developing different talents. She said that the children of CP are taught to draw from the pen until the painting is filled with colors, adding that this process will improve the child abilities as he/she uses more than a combined sense which will positively affect his brain and behavior. The Association of Caring for Children with CPis a civil non-profit organization founded in 1984, with the aim of promoting preventive and social awareness and educating parents about how their children are treated and trained. It also works on ensuring equipment and medicines and providing educational services for children. CP is a term that covers a range of physical disabilities that interfere with the ability to move. It’s a neurological disorder caused by injury to the brain while a mother is pregnant or shortly after the child is born. Symptoms of CP are often noticed during infancy or the preschool years.It affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills (the ability to move in a coordinated and purposeful way).