Today, Adnan Asaf is 4 years old. Over the years, his family began to notice that his speech was more limited than that of other children his age. He could say the words, but struggled to put them together into sentences. When he was unable to express himself, it was not only challenging for him, but also difficult for his family to understand what he needed. <\/p>\n\n
They first thought his condition would improve over time. But as the days went by, it became more apparent that Adnan Asaf found it difficult to express himself. There were things he wanted to say, but explaining them was not easy for him. He sometimes struggled to express his needs, sometimes his feelings, and sometimes his desire to play. <\/p>\n\n
Just when her concern was growing deeper, Meliha Alt\u0131n\u00f6z came across the \u201cGrowing Up with Play\u201d<\/strong> project, implemented in Hatay \u0130SO Container City with the collaboration of the Muzaffer Akp\u0131nar Foundation (MAV) and the Association for Social Development and Aid Mobilization (ASAM). She believed that this space, where children are supported through play and are able to express themselves safely, would be an important opportunity for Adnan Asaf. Shortly afterwards, she enrolled her son in the activities. <\/p>\n\n In the first couple of days, Adnan Asaf did not want to leave his mother\u2019s side and was hesitant to approach other children. Even being in the play area took time for him to get used to. However, with the project team\u2019s warm, patient, and reassuring approach, Adnan Asaf gradually found his own rhythm. <\/p>\n\n First, he watched his surroundings. Then he took a few steps forward. Then he joined in the play. As he became less shy, he began to speak more. <\/p>\n\n Today, Adnan Asaf is able to manage more on his own during activities, independently from his mother. He can go up to his friends, engage in play, and try harder to express himself. The sentences he forms have now become a voice that not only his mother can understand, but also those around him. <\/p>\n\n Meliha Han\u0131m describes how she feels about her son\u2019s progress with the following words:<\/p>\n\n \u201cIn the past, my greatest concern was him not being able to express himself. Now I\u2019ve started dreaming about his future. As a mother, this is a very precious feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Project staff describe Adnan Asaf\u2019s progress as follows:<\/p>\n\n \u201cWitnessing Adnan Asaf\u2019s progress has been incredibly meaningful for us. This not only means seeing improvement in his speaking skills, but also means seeing him connect more easily with the world around him, build friendships, and become more confident as he finds the words to express himself. At first, he would not play with other children; he would not even go up to them. But, as he regularly attended the activities, he started to make contact with them, play games, and make more effort to express himself. This has been a deeply valuable process for us as well, as this change has given us hope and made our work feel worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n For Meliha Alt\u0131n\u00f6z, every sentence her son speaks now represents a dream being rebuilt.<\/p>\n\n Sentences formed through play are turning into dreams that blossom with hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through the \u201cGrowing Up with Play\u201d project, implemented in Hatay \u0130SO Container City with the collaboration of the Muzaffer Akp\u0131nar Foundation (MAV) and the Association for Social Development and Aid Mobilization (ASAM), children are learning to express themselves more freely through play. Adnan Asaf\u2019s story is an inspiring example of how play can strengthen this journey of self-expression. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[641],"class_list":["post-58603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-mav"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58614,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58603\/revisions\/58614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sgdd.org.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-03-at-11.26.30-4-1024x768.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\nFirst He Watched, Then He Took Part, Then He Began to Speak More<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n
Confidence Built Through Play<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n