By Debra Cockrell, Elena V., Anastasia S. | Diema's Dream Team
Dear Friends!
We sincerely thank you for your support of our project on the Global Giving! Together with you, we continue to improve the lives of children with severe mental and physical development!
Many surprising things happened during the last sessions of our Dog Therapy for the children from the Center for Support of Family Education "Faith. Hope. Love "(Moscow).
We combined new children from other boarding schools. These children have a great thirst for knowledge. Even though these children are very promising in their learning capability, their school does not work with them to promote their development. Dogs are not common place at boarding schools and to these children; it is like they are from a different planet. But despite this, Sasha and Kristinka (name changed) did not leave dogs literally until the last second of the session. They petted, embraced and squeezed, the dogs, as they didn’t want to leave them.
Olga (name changed) does not like soft objects in principle - but with the dogs she stroked them with pleasure. Since this is the first time she has seen dogs, the pathologists at the orphanage were very surprised. Oscar (name changed) contrary to Olga loves things that are soft. But in his excitement, he had a strong grasping reflex. He had to learn to relax his hands and then he was able to pet the dog.
Danil (name changed) also liked to pet the dogs, although the spasticity in his hands are very and it is impossible. And Anna (name changed) even hugged all the dogs longer as she is so interested in them. She also has strong spasticity of hands - but with the help of Canine therapist and speech pathologists, and she was able to pet, touch the dog’s feet and hug him.
Discovery has also happened with the children that have been attending the Dog Therapy sessions throughout the year. Timur (name changed) with a love of dogs never had a problem interacting with the dogs. He loves them and is willing to play with them for hours. But severe muscle spasticity limits his movements. He loves spending time with the dogs so much that he invents new possibilities of movement. This session, Timur led the dog on a leash! Although he in a wheelchair and cannot walk by himself - he really did it!
In the orphanage, we have organized Dog Therapy in this center for three years. Each session, we see how much the children are changing. Many children become have overcome their fear of the dogs, developed cognitive activity and they have become more self-reliant.
We thank you for your support of these children - without you, their progressing development would not be possible! Help them to develop further by making regular donations and telling your friends about us!
By Elena Volodina | Director of Diema's Dream Fund (Russia)
By Elena Volodina | Diema's Dream Team
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