Early Intervention for Children in Guatemala

The following report details the progress of our Early Intervention program during the months of July through October 2018. Thanks to your valuable contributions, in this last trimester, we have continued to attend to 65 children, 30 boys and 35 girls under the age of 6 years old that reside in the communities of Santiago Atitlán. In the Early Intervention program, with the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team, which includes a physical therapist, psychologist, language therapist, and teachers, we have thoughtfully created work plans for each child and continue to provide comprehensive attention for all. During the months of July through September, we have made 291 visits.

We also continue offering workshops for parents of children with disabilities. This trimester, during the workshop for mothers and fathers of children with cerebral palsy, we observed that the participants interacted more freely, sharing experiences with one another and creating support networks.

This trimester, we would like to highlight the story of Rosa. This lively, five-year-old girl loves to sing and run in the patio of her house. The day she was born, her mother went in for a checkup and the doctors realized that she was about to give birth. Rosa was born with vision impairment and, for this reason, her parents turned to ADISA for support, hoping that their daughter will one day be able to see. However, medical studies indicate that Rosa will continue to lose her ability to see little by little. Today, Rosa loves to learn new things and enjoys new sensory experiences, always maintaining a smile on her face. During her time at Adisa, since 2015, she has learned many things, little by little developing her sensory abilities.