CHUA Promotes Children’s “Summer Week” at the Pediatric Development Center

The Pediatric Development Center of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA) will be promoting a “Summer Week” in Quinta da Calma in Almancil from 2-6 August.

This initiative aims to “provide greater contact with nature and socialization outside of a hospital environment” and targets children aged 5-7, followed by a consultation at the CHUA Center for Pediatric Development.

According to the center’s coordinator, Neurologist Carla Mendonca, this center “intends to promote solutions that reduce the difficulties faced by children with developmental disorders and their families”, and “many of these children have few opportunities to integrate into the social fabric of children. They often face a reality of exclusion that can lead to frustration and feelings of abandonment.”

In order to respond to families, who see their support reduced during the period of closing educational institutions, CHUA’s Pediatric Development Center established this free pilot project with the aim of “promoting the well-being and facilitating interaction between children and young people with special needs. Their needs during the school holidays period, taking into account Taking into account the limited offer of activities for this category of the population in the summer.

This week, the 10 children are accompanied by a kindergarten teacher, a nurse, a medical assistant, an occupational therapist from CHUA, and five volunteers.

In Quinta da Calma, children will have the opportunity to establish “direct contact with nature and with their peers, making use of tools that encourage human development, such as meditation, yoga, music, singing, dancing, movement, plastic and home arts, and the arts. Expression, gardening, nature walks and communication with animals,” Chua says.

Throughout the week, parents will also be invited to participate, with the aim of sharing experiences, finding strategies that help promote family harmony and identifying mechanisms for better development of children.