Early therapies for children with Down syndrome

Dear Supporters,

This quarter KDSP shifted to a new facility, KDSP Development Center and expanded its capacity to cater to more children for the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program. Through your generous donations, KDSP continues to provide access to essential services that children with Down syndrome need to live an independent life. Following are listed some of the highlights from this quarter:   

• 20 New children were enrolled in therapies
• 275 Occupational therapy sessions were conducted
• 301 Physical therapy sessions were conducted
• 265 Speech therapy sessions were conducted

Parent Empowerment Program

This year the tremendous growth of KDSP has had a domino effect on the turnover of parents reaching out. Consequently, the parents on the waitlist for ECI therapies increased. The Parent Empowerment Program was initiated by KDSP as a means to provide such parents with self-help guidance. The program started on the 17th of September and continues to be centered around the concerns of these waitlisted parents. Each interactive session is an informative guide to better equip the parents to deal with their concerns whilst they wait for their child’s turn to receive services. The program is not only informative in nature but is fueled from an intention to uplift the parents’ spirits and remind them that though they have been on the waitlist for a while, they are extremely valued members of KDSP. 

Professor Annette’s collaboration with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Department

At the start of September, the ECI department had the pleasure of collaborating with a well-known Physical Therapist Professor Annette, from Philadelphia with 24 years of experience. This collaboration was tailored so it could facilitate the needs of children with delayed results. Every week, Dr. Annette observes and assesses sessions of these kids with their respective therapists and parents on how better results could be achieved. Furthermore, Dr. Annette has also been helping therapists with further diagnosis and assessment of these children. Aside from the observatory work, the upcoming 4 weeks will consist of Dr. Annette hosting educative sessions on topics such as common comorbidities of children with Down syndrome.

ECI Celebration Milestone event

This year KDSP hosted a milestone event in November for all those brilliant individuals that had been discharged from two or more ECI therapies after achieving their milestones. The event had multiple stakeholders, including families of individuals with Down syndrome and KDSP’s donors. The afternoon celebrated not only these individuals and their hard work but also the persistence of their parents and therapists.

Occupational Therapy Training

Anjum has done an MS in Occupational Therapy and is a licensed OTR/L from the University of Illinois, Chicago and works as the manager at  Assential Therapy Solutions (North Carolina, USA). She conducted training in November for therapists at KDSP and it was a great learning experience for the therapists.

Testimonials

Murtaza is a 2.5-year-old beautiful boy. Upon a close and personal conversation with his parents, Murtaza’s mother claims she was extremely disturbed when they found out about his diagnosis. They went on a spiritual journey and visited every mazar (a Muslim shrine) possible, all of which suggested them not to consult any doctors. Two years later, she met with the KDSP team and said she felt like her son and family were finally in safe hands. Murtaza has shown tremendous progress ever since. His physical therapy over the past few months and has successfully started walking, climbing and kicking. Furthermore, his sessions with his speech therapist have been extremely rewarding as Murtaza’s expression and response has shown remarkable improvement. – Afshan, mother of Murtaza

Saifullah is a 3-year-old boy who has shown remarkable improvement in terms of his playing skills, emotional expressions, joint engagement, attention span and gross & fine motor skills. It is refreshing to see Saifullah come out of his shell and become more social. It is also heartwarming to see his fear of sounds turn into his love for music and songs after his speech therapy sessions. – Saifullah’s therapist at KDSP

“I was jobless and KDSP provided me with free of cost therapies. Even though we are on financial aid, we are treated like equals at KDSP just like everyone else, KDSP zindagi guzaarne ki her sahulat aur Rehnumai deta hai humein (KDSP offers us the guidance to cater the needs of our child)” – Muhammad, father of Saifullah

Thank you for all your generous support, in helping us provide early therapies to children with Down syndrome. We look forward to your continued support in helping these children achieve their developmental milestones!

Love,

Team KDSP

Dear Supporters,

Early childhood Intervention is extremely important for children with Down syndrome so that they can reach their milestones and participate in different daily activities in life. Due to your generous donations, children at Karachi Down Syndrome Program (KDSP) were provided access to occupational, physical and speech therapies among other services.

Following listed are some of the highlights of this quarter:

• 13 New children were enrolled in therapies during this quarter.

• 275 occupational therapy sessions were conducted during this quarter.

• 273 physical therapy sessions were conducted during this quarter.

• 243 speech therapy sessions were conducted during the quarter.

Testimonials from the families

“KDSP has been very helpful for us, as the staff is not just cooperative but also guides us properly. The therapists at KDSP are extremely competent. I am more than satisfied with Hareem’s progress so far, as she started her Physical Therapy when she was only three months old and Occupational Therapy when she turned six months old. Just recently, we also enrolled her in Speech Therapy, and I can truly say the therapies altogether have brought an extremely positive change in her.”

– Mother of Hareem

Because of the contributions of our donors, we, at the Karachi Down Syndrome Program, were able to provide the services of physical, speech and occupational therapies to children with Down syndrome. Your support helps these children to take their first steps, speak their first words and achieve their milestones.

Thank-you!

Love,

Team KDSP

Dear Supporters,

With COVID restrictions easing in the country, the Physical, Speech and Occupational therapies have finally started in full-swing physically again. In this last quarter, through your generous donations, the following achievements were made possible:

• 360+ therapy sessions were scheduled weekly

• 22 new children enrolled in therapies this quarter

• As the family network that KDSP caters to, continues to grow, so does the need for Early Childhood Intervention (Physical, Speech, and Occupational) therapies. To meet the demand for therapies, ensuring that young children with Down syndrome receive interventions timely, KDSP hired 2 new physical therapists, 3 new speech therapists as well as 6 speech therapy interns. This means a lesser wait list for new families who want to avail these therapies.

• KDSP presented its paper, ‘The Virtual Shift: Early Childhood Intervention Therapies for Pakistani Children with Down Syndrome During COVID-19,’ at 2 conferences

1. ICON 2022, a conference hosted by the Indus Hospital And Health Network (IHHN)
2. At the 2nd International Annual Conference at Centre for Business and Economics Research (CBER), hosted by the Institute of Business Administration (IBA).

• Dr. Nadia Ashiq, Head of Physical Therapy at KDSP delivered a session at Indus University (IU) on “Child Growth & Development Patterns.” Engaging the audience with the latest research in the field, Dr. Nadia guided attendees on principles of typical and neurodivergent developmental trajectories.

• Ms. Samar Naqvi, CEO at KDSP and Dr. Nadia Ashiq, Head of Physical Therapy at KDSP were also invited by Iqra University for a seminar on World Down Syndrome Day, as more and more organizations shift to adopting inclusive practices.

A Family Testimonial:

“Therapies have made a huge impact on my son’s life. Although it has been only 10 months since Muhammad has started taking therapies at KDSP, there have been so many improvements. Earlier, his behavior worried us, he was usually distracted in his activities despite our efforts to keep him focused. His therapists however were a god-sent, he is much calmer now and even helps around the house. He helps set the dinner table and plays with his brother. Through speech therapy, Muhammad has also started stringing words together and can even form single sentences at a time. I am extremely grateful to KDSP and so proud of all that my son has achieved.”

-          Nazish, father of Muhammad

Through the contributions of our donors and wellwishers, KDSP has acheived all that it has this quarter. We look forward to receriving your unwavering support so that more children may receive early interventions to lead independent lives in the future.

Thank you!

Love,

Team KDSP

Dear Supporters,

This quarter enabled families to smoothly access our therapy clinics for their children with Down syndrome as improvement was seen in the COVID situation post-vaccinations. Through the support extended by you, the following were made possible:

• In-person therapy clinics operated at full capacity for Karachi based children with 259+ therapy sessions conducted weekly. Virtual sessions continued for out of Karachi children/families.
• As part of KDSP’s recently established international collaboration with Ethiopia-based Deborah Foundation, KDSP is building capacity of their team by offering training in the three therapy disciplines (Occupational, Physical and Speech therapy). Our Head of Departments and therapists from each therapy domain happily shared the knowledge and expertise they had, leading to an interactive discussion.
• KDSP presented its paper, ‘The Virtual Shift: Early Childhood Intervention Therapies for Pakistani Children with Down Syndrome During COVID-19, in the Virtual World Down Syndrome Congress 2021 held at Dubai. The research paper was further selected to be published in the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal for their upcoming issue.

While we come across many stories of children with Down syndrome achieving their developmental milestones through early therapies at KDSP, a unique and heartfelt story we felt we must share with you is of 3 year-old Ahmed. During a regular speech therapy session, Ahmed’s therapist suspected he had trouble hearing and referred him for an audiology assessment to KSDP’s partner institution. Ahmed was diagnosed with severe hearing loss of the middle ear. This was quite a shock for his family as they were worried about his future and faced a tough financial situation. In August 2021, with your support, KDSP sponsored a pair of hearing aids which would enable Ahmed to continue availing his therapy sessions and thereby achieve his developmental milestones. His therapists have since then reported an improvement in his progress and his family is relieved and ever-grateful.

With your continuous support, together we will help these children build a solid foundation for their future.

Love,

Team KDSP

Links:

• KDSP x Deborah Foundation - Virtual Training on Early Therapies
• KDSP Therapies Virtual Shift Paper published in Research Journal

Dear Supporters, 

Last quarter, our beautiful children returned to their second home – KDSP, to avail their assigned therapies. Due to Covid-19 and government restrictions, organizations still continue to operate on 50% capacity. Feedback from parents however made the Early Childhood Intervention team realize the importance of in-person therapies and how they are more effective compared to virtual sessions. Due to the widespread administration of Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan, the team feels relatively more relieved to observe the situation settling. The team has been able to conduct 290+ sessions in person and virtual. Therapists at KDSP absolutely love the sight of sweet little children coming in with varying moods to attend their sessions and cannot wait for therapies to resume fully in person.

Father of Yashra expressed, "Yashra had difficulty in supporting her back but within 3 months at KDSP, she had started walking. Yashra joined KDSP during the pandemic and at the time, I was out of work. I am so grateful for all the support KDSP extended, through financial aid, ensuring Yashra could attend all her therapy sessions. I am extremely dedicated to her development and KDSP has taught me a lot". 

Research shows that children with Down syndrome (DS) are at a higher risk for hearing loss as compared with their typically developing peers. Incidence can be as high as 78%, with a majority exhibiting conductive hearing loss. Therefore it is essential to screen for hearing difficulties so speech therapy can be effective. Audiologists have the education and training to determine the presence of any hearing loss and offer treatment options. As part of KDSP's partnership with the 'Ziauddin College of Speech Language & Hearing Sciences (ZCSLHS)', audio logical assessments for these children were introduced April onwards at subsidized rates. This was a great initiative introduced by the team as it resulted in addressing issues related to the hearing capacity of children with Down syndrome.

Family-centered practice is gaining popularity worldwide and parent training programs are being used to shift focus from the traditional model to the ideal family-centered model. Free of cost Occupational and Speech therapy trainings for parents of individuals with Down syndrome were conducted by Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) that benefitted 11 families. The team at KDSP strongly believes that parent participation increases effectiveness of therapy sessions and accelerates the progress of the child.

As this quarter comes to an end, we would like to thank you all for the generous support and we eagerly look forward to your continued patronage in helping these children reach their developmental milestones timely!

Love,
Team KDSP