OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2012. A total of UAH 227,871 was raised during the third consecutive year of the Silver Coin charity project, which is run thanks to the joint efforts of UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group and the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organization (UDSO). Over the course of two months, from February 1 to April 1, Ukrainians deposited money into special donation boxes available at every UkrSibbank branch. Over the last three years more than UAH 580,000 have been raised for this worthy cause, reported the press-centre of UkrSibbank.
 
“Thanks to the Silver Coin fundraiser, Ukrainian children with Down syndrome have been able to benefit from the latest training programs, including those that are designed to teach them how to count and communicate through sign language. The funds raised will allow us to organize special seminars and training sessions for educators and parents, publish methodological textbooks to help parents and professionals through the children’s learning process. For example, children with Down syndrome experience difficulties in understanding abstract notions (the core of every arithmetic problem); this makes it crucial to present mathematical symbols in an association-oriented way so that children can succeed in studying more advanced mathematics. Special approaches and methods specifically adapted for such children are essential to their learning,” says Sergiy Kurianov, President of the parent-led Ukrainian charitable organization Down Syndrome.
 
This time around the funds will be channeled to finance special 2012–2013 seminars to be held in several regions of Ukraine by specialists from the Ukrainian Down Syndrome Organization as well as from Russia, England, and Sweden. At present, seminars on children with Down syndrome will touch upon the following subjects:

Features of early development and acquisition of basic skills;

Speech and communication skills development;

Cognitive development;

Analysis of children’s behavior manifestation;

“Numicon” methods to teach maths;

Gestures as communication and means of speech development
 
Parents of Down syndrome children are very aware of the need for such special seminars: “Thanks to the illustrated children’s books we have at home, my son learned to count to 10. The ‘See and Learn’ lessons were a great help as well. To move to the next level, however, we need to understand special teaching methods for children with Down syndrome. Our children have special needs, and conventional educational programs just don’t work for them,” says Viktoria Stepanian, mother of 4-year-old Aram from Zaporizhzhya.
 
“The Silver Coin project has resulted in substantial funds being raised. Most importantly, the project helps to alter society’s perception of people diagnosed with Down syndrome. As a result, greater numbers of people who sympathize are ready to lend a helping hand,” says Kostiantyn Lezhnin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Ukrsibbank BNP Paribas Group. “We greatly value the fact that the Silver Coin project has led to some positive results. The Early Development Center has been open to families with Down syndrome children for free consulting services and advice for the past two years, and the ‘See and Learn’ program, published last year, is already producing results, Training seminars, for which we raised funds this year, will definitely bring considerable benefits for the development of these children.” 
 
All the funds that were raised during the first year of the project were used to equip the Early Development Center for Down syndrome children, the only center of its kind in Ukraine. The Center provides cost-free programs to more than 350 families nationwide. The money raised during the second year of the project financed the publication of the “See and Learn” special educational programs for Down syndrome children.