100 Dominican special needs kids more independent

                                                      UBALDO

 Ubaldo was born without anus and ears. His family arranged for him to get all the operations he needed and also get private physiotherapy. But when the money was becoming tight, they decided to enroll him in the home visiting program of the Fundación Cuidado Infantil Dominicano. At this point he was 1 year and 4 months old and could not sit by himself, did not use his hands and was moving around his home on his back, pushing himself around with his feet.

                                               This is his story:

At the beginning I did not like the visits of Magdalena very much, but since they gave me interesting things to look at and touch, I soon liked it more than going to physiotherapy. where I cried a lot because they were always putting me in different positions that made me uncomfortable.

When I started to likethe visits, I discovered quickly I could do things with my hands, like grabbing my drinking bottle, without my mother having to hold it. She put me in a chair that my mom had (in the photo above) and she gave me blocks to put in and take out of a container. I did not even like to stand on my feet, but since she gave me something to do on the table, I forgot that I was standing on my feet. That made my mum very happy.  Between the visits my mum and siter Genesis continued to play with me the way they had learned.

What I really liked was scribbling, throwing things as far as I could and playing ball with my sister Genesis while I was sitting on the floor resting my back on my mother sitting behind me. Really, many times I do not understand much what they want, because my ear-holes are covered and I can only hear loud sounds. But I learned to communicate with my hands: to say goodbye, come, I do not want more or indicate what I do want to have, eat or drink.

My parents are also trying to solve my hearing problem. After 3 years in the program I am able to walk around and fulfill some simple mandates, eat by myself, and I love coloring.The Fundación Cuidado Infantil also helped my parents to enroll me in the school for the deaf! I hope to learn there how to communicate better with my family!

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Thank you so much for helping us help children like Ubaldo develop to their potential and when possible get them enrolled in a school!!

Here is an update on the progress of the two little girls Amanda and Michelle you got to know in earlier reports:

Amanda

Amanda was born with Down's Syndrome in November 2018 and her parents did not receive any orientation about how to stimulate her development for 8 months. Then her mother was referred to our Foundation by another parent in the program and enrolled her in the home visiting program. The home visitor Mella started to work with her mother once per week, explaining about the Down's Syndrome condition and all the additional problems it can bring along, therefore she advised the parents to go for a medical consult and keep following up. At the same time Mella started to evaluate Amanda’s development and show her mother every week a specific activity to stimulate Amanda in different developmental areas. At that time Amanda was a very floppy little girl, did not make any sound, did not even roll over and had no head control.

After being in the program for only 5 months, Amanda haddeveloped good head control, could roll over and even sit up by herself, was repeating syllables, said even a few words, indicates her likes and dislikes and applauds!

The amazing thing is that when she came for an evaluation with the Physiotherapy students in April 2020, she actually just started to take some steps, while her mother was holding her. And now almost a year later in February 2022 she is quite able to move around her home, climb stairs, is learning to put rings on a peg and to use a nesting toy. She is quite a character with her own mind, as you can appreciate in the video that you can see via the dropbox link. 

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Michelle

Little Michelle was born in October 2018, and was 2 years old in the former report.

She was 13 months old when enrolled in the home visiting program. She has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy and at the time of enrolment she could not sit, or stay seated when put in this position or crawl on the floor. She had no head control.

When 2 years old, thanks to her grandmother‘s dedication she had developed good head control, crawl, sit although only when put in this position and not to stable yet, and jump up and down when put on her feet while holding her.

In the video you can see the progress she made the first year in the program and just this week her grandmother surprised us with a video where you can clearly see how well she is walking now by herself only 6 months later this is the last part of the video.

This is a wonderful result thanks to her grandmother who is making sure she is stimulating Michelle in everything the home visitor Nurys is teaching her every week in an individualized program following normal child development!

There is still a lot more to work on, but now her grandmother is busy keeping an eye on Michelle at all times, making sure she is safe. 

We hope you will appreciate the progress she made when looking at the video that you can see via the dropbox link. I made a foto of the video to give you a first look.

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I hope you enjoyed reading the progress stories of the Amanda and Michelle, as we and their families are very pleased with their progress.

Thanks to your support we were able to work with these families and many others also!

Your support of our programs is very much appreciated!!

Links:

• Video of Amanda
• Video of Michelle