Special service for parents of disabled children extended

• The Center for Early Intervention in Plzeň helps parents communicate with their disabled children
• With the Center's help, disabled children can remain with their families and are later able to attend mainstream schools
• The T-Mobile Fund contributed CZK100,000 to the project, which provides consulting focused on alternative communication

Prague, 15 January 2008 - The communication barrier between disabled children and their parents is one of the hardest trials for everyone involved, thoroughly testing their love and patience. A good family environment is essential for equipping a disabled child with the skills he or she needs to easily integrate into mainstream society. However, a family can provide such an environment and function properly only if its members understand each other. This is why the Center for Early Intervention in Plzeň provides expert consulting services focused on alternative communication. These services have been extended thanks to a contribution made by the T­Mobile Fund.

"Thanks to the help provided during early intervention, families are not torn apart as there are available solutions other than placing a disabled child in a special-care facility. We were therefore glad to support the project of extending the services of the Center for Early Intervention in Plzeň, which has achieved very good results," says Martina Kemrová, Senior Head of Corporate Communication at T­Mobile.

The Plzeň center was set up by the Association for Early Intervention in 2002. "We provide help to the whole family. When a disabled child is born, everyone is suddenly in a very difficult situation, especially when such a child is blind, deaf or mute, and the others in the family are unable to communicate with him or her," says Miroslava Bartošová, manager of the Plzeň center. "Our expert consultants visit such families at least once every three months, though usually more often. At present we have 44 clients, children aged three months to six years who mostly have multiple disabilities."

Experts of the Association for Early Intervention provide advice mainly in matters related to the development of children's motor skills, stimulation of sight and enhancement of other abilities or rehabilitation of disorders. However, they also help parents with choosing the right pre-schools and schools for their kids and also lend parents useful tools and toys for their children. In addition to this, the center regularly holds one-week courses for families and provides continuing education for rehabilitation staff. Last year, its experts also started providing consulting services focused on alternative means of communication. The T­Mobile Employee Fund contributed CZK 100,000 so that these projects could be extended into this year as well. "The contribution mostly covers consultants' remuneration and a part of the overhead costs," says Miroslava Bartošová. As early intervention is, in a sense, a preventive service, it is offered to disabled children and their families free of charge. "This is why we need to find other ways of obtaining funding for the operation of the center. Any additional support that we receive is greatly appreciated," says Bartošová.

More information is available at www.ranapece.cz or from Miroslava Bartošová, phone: 777234037, e-mail: plzen@ranapece.cz

This is the second year that various projects from the whole Czech Republic have received financial contributions from the T­Mobile Employee Fund. Funding distributed by the T­Mobile Employee Fund is managed by the VIA Foundation, which selected 27 projects from among 133 recommended by T-Mobile employees to receive the total amount of CZK 2 million.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.