As part of municipal projects dedicated to the asylum seeker community in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, we identified groups within the community that could benefit from additional early childhood therapeutic services. These include parents and families of children with special needs, young mothers and their children, parents and children on the autism spectrum, and children whose parents are frequently absent from home, resulting in a lack of parent-child bonding.
While these families face challenges similar to those in other city communities, the unique characteristics of the asylum seeker population – primarily cultural and language barriers – limit their access to municipal services and appropriate support.
Urban95 and Mesila (a municipal project supporting the asylum seeker and migrant worker community) collaborated to develop programs promoting equal opportunities for toddlers and their caregivers, including:
Establishing a therapeutic play space to serve multiple functions, including lectures, study groups, supervised parent-child meetings, dyadic therapy, physiotherapy, and speech therapy. The space also hosts therapeutic group sessions for children, parents, and dyads, such as a group for children with developmental delays, focusing on play skills, a group for mothers and their daughters – siblings of children with autism – addressing the relationship with the non-diagnosed child and fostering play development, a group for young mothers experiencing first-time parenthood, parent training groups, and more.
The groups are led by a professional team that includes occupational therapists (both practitioners and students), social workers, psychologists, and parent trainers.
Renovating the play space’s garden and yard to create a welcoming environment and encourage families to spend more time there. The improvements aimed to foster and enrich playful interactions between parents and children, as well as among the children themselves. The renovation included new lighting, a seating area, and age-appropriate outdoor games.
Creating a series of instructional videos for parents with tips on fostering cognitive and communication skills in early childhood. The idea arose from Mesila staff’s observation that parents in the community rarely participated in Salta workshops or engaged with Digitaf content, highlighting the need for a different approach to reach a broader audience.
Inspired by VROOM Tips (an international program by the Bezos Family Foundation providing tools for parents and caregivers to support children’s development), we produced 10 short training videos focused on simple, everyday actions in toddler care. While these actions can be challenging for parents of babies and children with special needs, they also provide regular opportunities for meaningful parent-child interaction. When done effectively, these moments become playful and engaging opportunities to foster a range of cognitive, emotional, and motor skills.
To make the videos accessible, they were filmed with a mother and child from the asylum seeker community and translated into Tigrinya and Arabic. With the help of the community marketing team, we shared the videos through community Facebook and WhatsApp groups, garnering tens of thousands of views.
Partnering municipal units:
The Community, Culture, and Sports Administration; Mesila.
