MindanaoToday.com | iCARE MARKS 11 YEARS WITH A BANG
Bike Riders and the City High School Drum and Bugle Corps led a motorcade of vehicles of parents, teachers and community partners of the Intervention Center for Autism and Related Exceptionalities (iCARE) around the city to mark its 11th founding anniversary, Sunday morning, September 22, 2024.
With the theme “Celebrating Milestones, Empowering Possibilities,” this year’s celebration will run until September 28 with series of activities such as a workshop seminar for DepEd Sped teachers on the new trends in behavior management, field demonstration for Sped Classes, film viewing, a magic show and a lot more.
“Our series of activities which started early today is our way of thanking all our stakeholders for a fruitful 11 years as we continue to commit to be every parent’s partner in their journey to empower their children with infinite possibilities,” Dr. Renato “Nats” Tangonan, President and CEO said during the sidelines of the opening program of the week-long celebration adding that it takes more than a village to raise children with special needs as he urges parents to continue to support the efforts of the institution.
Humble Beginnings
Responding to the clamor of parents who felt helpless on how to better handle and take care of their kids with special needs, iCARE was established in 2013 at the residential garage of Dr. Nats as he held one-on-one therapy sessions with a few students.
With word of mouth of how effective his applied behavior analysis (ABA) program is, it grew in numbers in no time which paved the way for iCARE to become what is now a specialist Child Development Center that provides assessment, therapy, and special education services to children and adolescents with Autism and developmental delays in four cities – Valencia, Butuan, Iligan and Cagayn de Oro.
Since it was established, iCARE has become every parent’s partner on their therapy journey as it continues to help hundreds of Autism families by providing a safe and nurturing environment. It has also provided support to parents and families in training them on how to continue the learning goals in their homes and community.
As iCARE grew to become a network of therapy centers in the major cities in Northern Mindanao and Caraga it also continues to train professionals that work closely with every child’s educational setting and ensure a collaborative approach to learning. Their team of behavioral therapists provide daily detailed feedback to parents and have a communication diary to keep track of the sessions and progress of each child.
With iCARE, communication and collaboration have been the cornerstone to having a successful program in helping each child and each parent that knocks on their doors.
The Man Behind iCARE
The success of iCARE as a growing network of therapy centers was due to the visions and leadership of its founder and owner, Dr. Nats.
“Before iCARE became this big, our story has had a humble beginning and may have started long before I became an international Advanced Certified Autism specialist. I could still vividly remember back in my college days where I lived with a family with a child with autism. I knew the struggles of autism families as I experienced it first hand,” the CEO said adding that it prompted him to take a master’s degree in Special Education in the University of The Philippines and had his 3 years intensive training and immersion at a British-run Child Development Center based in Dubai, UAE where he also took advance ABA certification under the tutelage of the professors of Florida Institute of Technology and Scott Center for Autism Treatment also based in Florida, USA.
When Dr. Nats came home to Cagayan de Oro in 2011 he thought of shifting into a more lucrative profession but the call to respond to the clamor of parents was something he could not ignore and could not postpone that in 2013 he decided to establish the first iCARE therapy center in their garage and then the rest was history.
Standing on the cusp of a new era, ICARE is set to propel itself to greater heights with its unwavering commitment to be every parent’s partner in assessment, therapy, and special education for children with autism and related exceptionalities. PR
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