Pietra and Malu, 3, are twin sisters, who both attend AEIOU Foundation. They like to hold hands and play ‘Row Your Boat’. They love ‘Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes’, and they are beginning to use their imagination to play.
Their mother, Yara Morales, says AEIOU has changed her whole life. “Before coming to AEIOU, they would cry every day. Their childcare team tried, but they didn’t know how to deal with my children. Pietra would be alone, in her own world. Nobody had the time or patience to sit by her side and interact with her. She was never happy when I left, and she would cry. It was not for her.”
Fast forward eight months, and Yara says her family’s life has been transformed. “I see the way the team at AEIOU is with the children. It is completely different. Not only does the team help the girls; they help me. They create activities so I can play with them, games that are fun, but which help with their cognitive skills. I have so much support, I really feel it. I don’t know if they know just how much they help people,” Yara says.
“When I found out the girls have autism, I thought, ‘Oh, what can I do? What will their life be like?’, but they are learning so much because of AEIOU. I am so proud of them. I have such hope for their futures. I want them to communicate easily, to travel, to go inside planes and live a long life. It doesn’t matter if they have some different ways to communicate, but I want people to see how clever they are, and for them to feel special. I want them to be able to choose the right people to be by their sides, and for them to never need to worry.”
Recently, Yara arrived to collect Pietra and Malu. ‘I saw Pietra with a little boy, playing! She was hugging him, and it was amazing to see her allowing another child to be by her side. She is playing with her sister now, which she never did. They are learning to communicate, they can understand English and Portuguese … Oh, a thousand things have improved.”
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