DAICAD School for Children with Autism

DAICAD is a private institution dedicated to the educational and therapeutic needs of children (up to 18 years) with Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Children with these disorders have a normal IQ range but because of their developmental disabilities, cannot progress in a traditional school environment. To make any progress educationally and professionally, they need ongoing support that is not only personalized but provided by specialized occupational therapists.

The mission of DAICAD is to help students reach their maximum potential. Its founder, Rocio Rego began with a handful of students in 2003. Seven years later, with now 17 students and 12 therapists, the school has a wide range of facilities allowing students to progress through each stage of their development.

The school has rooms of various sizes that are used either for teaching the 3Rs , gym, sensorial development training, swimming and the learning of various other tasks. Rooms are colorful and make liberal use of each child’s name to aid in the sequencing of daily and other tasks they are learning. This purpose-built school is large enough to accommodate a greater number of students as the school grows larger.

The exterior area is grassy with a climbing facility and a greenhouse where students learn to grow vegetables and other plants.

The school is financed by tuition fees. Because of the high cost of hiring specialists and the unique ratio of one to two students per specialist, there is little money left over for extras.

ORFL’s Support

Daicad is the only school in Argentina that provides this important service. To help DAICAD reach its goal, ORFL provided financial support for the following programs:

• Staff training
• Kitchen equipment
• Library and stationary equipment
• Computers
• Audio-visual recording and viewing equipment for student training
• Equipment for gym and various sporting equipment.