Growing special education school

The Growing Special Education School (GSES), is the country first specific structure that wants to host children with autistic disabilities. The School has opened its doors on June 5, 2017, in a rental house adjacent to the Child Jesus church. This school was launched by a faithful of the Parish, Phok Many, who is the mother of two children: Busha, 12, and Guerila, 8, autistic. Employed for many years by New Hope for Cambodian Children, a NGO structure that cares for children with AIDS, she has repeatedly attempted to enroll her second son in a normal school, with no success…

Therefore, as she’s herself the mother of an autistic child with a good knowledge of the sufferings of families who have children suffering from autism, in June 2017 took the courageous initiative to start the pilot project of the GSES, with the strong support of a group of a few women, mothers of children affected by autism disability, and the support of the Child Jesus Parish.

Tired of waiting for an answer to their problems from the public or private school system, they decided to set up a small pilot school for their children and also for those of other families, who shared the same destiny. GSES is meant to be only for autistic kids, between the ages of 3 to 14, that have been previously diagnosed by the Caritas Center for Children and Adolescents Mental Health.

The school began with about 10 children. Nowadays, about 80 kids divided into two sessions, (morning and afternoon), are welcomed at the GSES, and many families are on the waiting-list… 

Autism, refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences. We now know that there is not one autism but many types, caused by different combinations of genetic and environmental influences. 

This project is very new and almost everything still remains to be done. The two main challenges are : the formation of the staff to be competent in the best service of autistic children and a significant Financial assistance. If we have already right donors here, locally, this remains insufficient unfortunately in the long-run. For instance for a children, a study day costs $30. If we work out the math it costs approximately $9000 per year. We are appealing to your generosity.