Svitlana Parfentieva
Poltava, Ukraine
35 y. o.
IDPs. We rent our home. 3 children, 1 with special needs, 2 under 3 years old. Remedial therapy sessions, medical tests, special nutrition.

We are IDPs. We rent our home. 3 children. My eldest daughter has a disability due to an autism diagnosis, and she has other diagnoses in neurology, cardiology, orthopedics and neurology; she is under the care of an ophthalmologist and an endocrinologist. Genetically she has food intolerances and is on a diet: gluten-free, casein-free, homocysteine-free. She needs corrective sessions on an ongoing basis, at least 2 times a week: speech therapist, ABA therapy, sensory integration, psychologist; these are the main ones we attend. Swimming, massage and exercise therapy would also be helpful, but there is no money for them. We are under doctors' supervision, get examined from time to time, do tests at a private laboratory, they prescribe medications, and so on; the process goes round in circles. The child barely speaks, has no free speech and no self-care skills; every action has to be repeated constantly. My daughter is 9 years old and is in the second grade at a specialized school. She is from my first marriage; the child's biological father does not help in any way and takes no part in her life. With my current husband we have two children together: a daughter aged 1.8 years and a son aged 1 month. From the age of 1 month my younger daughter was treated by an orthopedist (bilateral hip dislocation), a hematologist (anemia) and an endocrinologist (elevated 17-hydroxyprogesterone). It was a long and hard road, but she was cured. At the moment the ossification nucleus is only beginning to appear. She needs massages, exercise therapy, swimming, vitamins, and tests for vitamin levels. She has lactase deficiency; we do tests from time to time. She needs to see a neurologist, as she sleeps poorly. My son needs tests. (Lactose, bilirubin, vitamin D by fractions and total, ionized calcium. He has been diagnosed with ptosis, a high umbilical ring and an umbilical hernia.