Beats for Love has a charitable dimension. It will help a sick girl communicate with her family and classmates

Beats for Love Pepino will be helping this year. The organisers of the biggest dance festival in the heart of Europe have held a public collection in support of seven-year-old Veronika Staníčková from Frýdek-Místek. She suffers from cerebral palsy; she cannot hear, speak or walk, and she has no control over her hands.

The funds raised will allow Veronika’s family to buy a special aid thanks to which the girl will be able to control a computer with her gaze. The device is simply attached to a computer, laptop or tablet, at home or at school. „Veronika starts primary school in September and this aid will ease her path through education, support her independence and her ability to communicate with those around her. And not only at school — she will also be able to be in far better contact at home with her parents and siblings,” explains Kamil Rudolf.

The public collection will run throughout the festival. People can contribute in cash into a collection box carried around the grounds by hostesses.

Veronika was born prematurely and has been fighting many problems since birth. She has cerebral palsy, which is why she cannot walk and her hands do not obey her very well. With assistance she very much enjoys drawing, looking at books and playing with various toys. She likes family walks around the neighbourhood, when she and her siblings watch village life. Verunka has been deaf since birth and can hear only thanks to a cochlear implant. She has gradually learned to understand spoken language, and although she does not speak herself, we are glad that she understands us and can hear us and the sounds around her.

Verunka currently attends the Naděje nursery school in Frýdek-Místek. Her severe multiple disability limits her ability to communicate with those around her and with the other children in the group; she cannot say what she needs or what she would like to do. She cannot use a computer or tablet on her own because of the involuntary movements of her hands. To express her needs she uses communication boards, which she is able to navigate, and expresses her wishes on the principle of passive scanning.

In September 2016 Veronika will start the first grade. We would like to support Verunka’s independence and her ability to communicate with those around her, and to ease her path through education. A suitable aid for her active involvement in communication is the Tobii PCEye Go with the Grid 2 computer program. This aid makes it possible to control a computer with one’s gaze.

Veronika is very curious and likes learning new things; she is patient and has a strong will. She would like to do what her siblings and friends do, which is why we try to help her as much as possible. We would be very glad if Veronika could talk to us using this modern aid. It would delight not only her, but the whole family and everyone at school.

Jana Szkanderová, mother