Tribali during their performance on Achievement Day.

No matter how old we are, praise and encouragement helps us feel good about ourselves. It boosts our self-esteem and confidence and helps us push for more.

This is behind the psychological basis of every school prize day. Children are awarded for their achievements, efforts and even competitive edge.

The children and adults who attend the Inspire Foundation have different abilities and disabilities and therefore a successful year is not always easy to define. Success and achievement may have different meanings to different people.

For some it might be learning how to sit up straight, for others it might be improving their literacy and numeracy skills.

For some it might be toilet training, even if they’re already in middle school, and for others it might be learning how to eat solid food.

Whatever successes are celebrated, achievement is always about recognising talents and strengths, as well as reaching personalised goals that are set throughout the year.Inspire, is a non-profit organisation that leads the way in providing therapeutic, education and leisure services to persons with diverse abilities in Malta and Gozo.

It helps more than 1,000 children and adults with autism, Down syndrome, learning difficulties, cerebral palsy and other intellectual and neurological disabilities, adjust, learn and reach their potential.

Success and achievement may have different meanings to different people

The foundation strives to provide individuals with the support they require to be included and to achieve their goals, always making sure that effort is recognised as much as achievement.

With this in mind, Inspire celebrates Achievement Day on an annual basis.

This year, it took place last month as a collaborative team effort of all the professionals who work at Inspire together with the fundraising team. On this very important day, each programme exhibited all the work undertaken by clients throughout the year, together with a memoir of photographs and video clips that were produced to document crucial moments.

Several activities were organised to enhance parent and child interaction and to strengthen clients’ emotional and social development.

This year younger clients were treated to a number of multisensory activities such as a drumming session with Tribali, who are always very keen to collaborate with Inspire.

The adult programme set up an exhibition of works designed around the World Cup – a theme they chose themselves and did all the preparations for.

Most of the clients also took part in a fashion show, which saw them ready themselves and others backstage and then proudly walk in front of the audience in their fancy clothes.

The whole exercise proved to be a real boost for their self-esteem.

For more information on how Inspire can help you send me an e-mail on charlene.borg@inspire.org.mt or call on 2092 8100.