Early Intervention for Children in Guatemala

Since March, the pandemic has altered the way in which we implement our programs. The face-to-face therapies and home visits were suspended, leaving more than 200 children without therapy, and we began to provide remote care. The Early Intervention program continues to provide follow-up care to 19 boys and 21 girls via phone calls, WhatsApp, and video calls, instructing parents to perform the activities and exercizes at home with their child. For families without telephone or internet access, we visited their homes to deliver individualized follow-up plans and informational materials.

Our team checks-in with families weekly, providing information on COVID-19 prevention, symptoms, and resources, as well as mental health support and new ways of generating income.

Economically, the pandemic has taken a considerable toll on the community. The government enforced curfew and travel ban left many families with little to no income. The majority of the families with which we work live in extreme poverty, currently unable to cover their basic needs. For this reason, in April, we began distributing emergency food supplies to over 150 prioritized families.

Fortunately, last week, after months of virtual support, we resumed in-person therapies in our offices with a new protocol in place.

Today, we want to highlight the story of Andrea, a six-year-old girl, diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Her birth was described as normal. When Andrea was seven-months-old, she could hold her head up. When she turned one, she could sit-up on her own and was even beginning to walk. However, shortly thereafter, she began to present a fever and started having seizures.

Her family brought her to see a neurologist, who prescribed her with a medication that resolved the seizures for some time. Unfortunately, the seizures eventually returned and stronger than before. This time the family decided to bring her to a different doctor, who changed her treatment. This new treatment proved ineffective and Andrea stopped eating and defecating. Her parents then brought her to a third neurologist, who provided her with a new treatment that made her extremely sleepy. For two weeks, she spent nearly all day, every day sleeping. Andrea’s parents, therefore, decided to stop medicating her and no longer sought the support of a neurologist.

Andrea, however, did continue with her therapies at ADISA. Through language therapy, physical therapy, early intervention therapy, and psycho-motor therapy, Andrea has stopped seizing and is now sitting-up for long periods of time with limited support and picking up objects. She most enjoys looking at picture books and listening to stories.

We began this first quarter of 2020 with 40 participants, 19 boys and 21 girls, in our early intervention program. During the months of January through mid-March, we started working in groups, five groups of two to four participants each. These groups were defined by age and type of disability to promote social relationships and make the work more enjoyable for the children.

In addition to the group work, we had continued working individually with some participants in their homes when necessary and had updated the plans of all 40 participants to reflect their advances.

Rosa, a two-year-old girl, the youngest of three daughters, participates in our early intervention program. While her birth was deemed normal, after a few months, her parents realized that she could not support her own head or neck. When Rosa was six months old, nurses from the local health center arrived for a routine health visit, they confirmed that she could not support her head or neck and discovered that also could not sit-up. The nurses then referred Rosa to ADISA, where she was diagnosed with a psycho-motor delay and strabismus. Now, Rosa can hold up her head and neck and sit-up on her own.

In February, we began the parent monthly workshop series, uniting all of ADISA’s programs, to ensure that all parents receive the same information and hopefully share it with their friends, families, and neighbors.

On March 16th, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of our work has changed drastically. While we can no longer provide face-to-face support to the children in the program, our early intervention teachers have been sharing videos and calling families weekly to follow-up on each child’s individual plan, as well as to ensure that the families have accurate and sufficient information to confront the pandemic.

Fortunately, there are still no confirmed cases in Santiago Atitlán. However, the preventative measures implemented by the government, in particular the curfew, have taken a large economic toll on our community. Many of the families already living in extreme poverty can no longer afford to put food on their tables or cover their basic needs. Therefore, this month, ADISA began distributing emergency food supplies to the 80 families in our programs with the greatest need.

As we prepare for the worst, we are optimistic for what has yet to come.