By Anelvi Mogollon | Healthcare Program Developer
This final report marks the end of our Animal Assisted Therapy for Children in Guatemala campaign. Fortunately, one of our primary funders has assumed the costs of this project in its entirety. We are immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed to this project. We could not have made it this far without you.
Over the course of these past two months, Argos has kept busy with his individual and group therapies, here in ADISA and throughout the community. Every Tuesday, Argos travels to Cerro de Oro, a community just outside of Santiago Atitlán, to attend to ten children with disabilities.
Among these children is Valerio, a fourteen-year-old with Down Syndrome that attends the special education school in Cerro de Oro. Once a week, Valerio receives psychological services, speech therapy, and animal-assisted therapy with Argos.
In mid-2018, Valerio began to present conduct issues and was no longer interested in socializing with anyone nor participating in group games or activities. He started fighting with his classmates and he often had to be separated from the rest of the class to keep from hurting them.
The only activity that interested him, and in which he actively participated, was therapy with Argos. Argos helps Valerio relax. He combs him, hugs him, feeds him, places objects on him, and then removes them. Little by little, we started including other children in his sessions, a different child each time. At first, he struggled to work with the other children, but over time, he started to socialize with the other children, participate in class activities, and work well with his classmates.
Every week, when Argos arrives in Cerro de Oro, Valerio is the first to work with Argos and is always waiting for him with a big smile on his face. When his turn is up, he never wants to leave.
Thank you again for your generosity and for believing with us that every person, regardless of their abilities, gender, or ethnicity deserves access to high-quality education, health, and rehabilitation services.
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