By Shivkumar Sharma | Project Leader
For children with deafblindness and multiple disabilities, appropriate nutrition, medical attention and regular rehabilitation support are important parts of everyday care. Sabreena’s experience shows how these forms of support can work alongside family involvement and individualised learning activities.
Sabreena’s Story
Sabreena, an 8 year old girl lives in Jammu & Kashmir, with her parents and two sisters. Her father works as a labourer and her mother is a homemaker. Sabreena has deafblindness with multiple sensory impairment and cerebral palsy due to hypoxia, identified a few months after birth.
She joined the Deafblind programme supported by Sense International India, in July 2026 after her family learned about the programme through a community-based rehabilitation worker. Before joining, Sabreena could not sit and experienced delays in visual, social and motor development. She cried frequently and communicated mainly through pointing, crying and babbling. Her family was concerned about her development and needed support with her nutrition and care.
Nutrition Support Tailored to Her Needs
On a nutritionist’s advice, Sabreena received nutritional support through Sense International India, including almonds, eggs and milk, with the aim of strengthening her bones. The plan is reviewed quarterly to ensure that it continues to match her needs. Her family has made regular efforts to follow this plan.
Her case record describes improved strength and fine motor abilities alongside this support. Sabreena is now able to sit and to hold and handle objects more effectively during activities. These changes have occurred alongside physiotherapy, positioning support and regular developmental intervention; the contribution of nutrition alone has not been separately measured.
Alongside nutrition, Sabreena receives guidance from her special educator, a physiotherapist and community-based rehabilitation workers. Her activities include vision stimulation to practise tracking, eye contact and fixation; hand-function exercises to practise grasping; and physiotherapy and positioning support. Her family continues to practice activities at home with guidance from the intervention team.
Progress Documented since Enrolment
Sabreena can now sit, including for longer periods with her educator, and participate in activities. She can hold objects for approximately 3–5 seconds with minimal support. Her visual tracking, eye contact and fixation have improved, and she has begun recognising her teacher. She follows instructions and continues to express herself through pointing and babbling. The case story also reports that she is calmer and cries less frequently.
Her family has become more hopeful about her progress. Her mother and cousin sister shared: “We are very thankful to Sense International India. Sabreena is improving day by day.
Thank you to GlobalGiving and its donors for supporting Sense International India’s efforts to
expand meaningful learning opportunities for persons with deafblindness and multiple
disabilities.
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