The Sunshine Early Stimulation Centre continues to grow, providing the only early intervention programme in Barbados for children from birth to five years. In November 2008 they opened an extension to the Sunshine Centre - The John Payne School for Exceptional Children - which offers a special education programme for up to thirty children aged five to eleven years.

Since opening their doors in February 2007 the Sunshine Centre has witnessed amazing achievements. Parents who were told that their children would never walk, have watched them taking their first steps; children who came to them very hypotonic and under-reactive are now sitting up, climbing and crawling and interacting in group activities; and children who were locked into their own world, who never made eye contact or gave social smiles, are now blowing kisses as they leave to go home.

One young boy with Autism who would never leave home with anybody but his mother, and spent the first three months hiding in the corner of the classroom, now runs through the school gates, greeting his friends, sometimes even forgetting to wave goodbye to Mum. She reported that this year, for the first time ever, he left home and went out with his uncle.

These achievements may seem small to some, but at Sunshine these are giant steps that they celebrate every day. The Barbara Ward Children’s Foundation was pleased to support their work with a grant of £16000 allowing them to continue making a difference to the lives of children with special needs in Barbados.