Provide therapy to 50 disabled children in India

As you enter the therapy unit, you hear the rhythmic beats of drums and you’ll be surprised to see a young boy inviting you to dance for his beats!! That is Naitik, 8-yr-old drummer boy of SAMADHAN who loves to dance and loves listening to music. Nothing in the world and no problems can stop him from dancing when he hears music playing. Naitik has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy with delayed speech and language, and hyperactivity.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a term used to describe a group of disorders that affect movement and posture. It is caused by trauma to the brain that occurs prenatally, during birth, or before the age of 5. Cerebral Palsy can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. CP may sometimes be accompanied by other impairments, like visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments.

Struggling to maintain a proper balance, Naitik would keep moving around the room. He was always restless and it was difficult to make him sit in one place. He also had problems with his speech and framing sentences. At SAMADHAN, various specialists work with Naitik. He undergoes physiotherapy to improve his muscle strength and balance. The speech therapist has been working to help him improve the clarity of his speech and to be able to frame sentences in a better manner. He also goes to the special education unit at SAMADHAN every day, where he has been learning how to identify various objects, colours, etc. and how to draw shapes and write alphabets and numbers. Over the past one year, Naitik has improved very much and it is important to note that music and rhythm played a key role in Naitik’s development. Naitik loves listening to music and dancing. He always has a beat to play and a song to sing. The faint sound of music playing somewhere is enough to calm a crying Naitik within a few seconds, and he is glued to the speaker, with his hands and feet moving to the rhythm. Whenever there is a celebration and people are dancing, he cannot stop himself from dancing along and soon enough, he has everyone’s attention with his own dance performance. Naitik and music are inseparable.

He has calmed down a lot and is not as hyperactive as he used to be. His is able to balance himself better while standing, walking, and dancing. He listens to his teachers now and has learnt how to write a few alphabets and numbers along with many other skills. His speech has also become much clearer and he is able to express himself in a better way. He loves to make garlands of beads.

He still needs a lot of help, support, and continued intervention. SAMADHAN is in the process of setting a creative movement unit and looking for sponsorships which will help to change the lives of children like Naitik through music, dance and movement therapies.

Links:

• Our Website

Prince was born on the 18^th of June 2010. It had been a normal delivery and the family was very happy with the news of the new-born baby. The child seemed to be healthy and nothing strange was noticed, except for the fact that he did not cry for around 5 minutes after he was born, but the doctors dismissed it as nothing serious. After a month, one night he started crying suddenly and he twisted his limbs in an awkward manner. But once he stopped crying and appeared alright, his parents did not think much of it. It was at 7 months of age when his family noticed that there was something wrong. Prince was not developing normally. He wasn’t meeting normal developmental milestones, like rolling over from his back to the stomach. This was when he was taken to the doctor and he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a term used to describe a group of disorders that affect movement and posture. It is caused by trauma to the brain that occurs prenatally, during birth, or before the age of 5. Cerebral Palsy can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. CP may sometimes be accompanied by other impairments, like visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments.

Prince joined SAMADHAN at the age of 5. His parents got to know about the NGO through their younger son’s school Principal. At that time, Prince could not play or even move around like other children. He couldn’t support his head as well. He could only lie down on his back. At SAMADHAN, a team of specialists worked with him and his parents. He was given physiotherapy because of which, slowly he was able to support his neck and head. After some time, he was even able to join the special education unit.

It has been 3 years now, since Prince joined SAMADHAN, and there has been a big change in his condition. He greets everyone with a folding of hands to say “Namaste”. His radiant smile can melt anyone’s heart and his eyes sparkle with the mischief and joy of childhood. He is able to communicate to an extent now through gestures and some words, although his speech is not very clear yet. He loves going to school. He is now able to hold a pencil, pick up objects, match items, and he recognizes people by name. His mother, Hema, who works at SAMADHAN now, says, “If I tell him the name of any of his classmates, he immediately points to where they are.” He recognizes his own belongings and is able to differentiate between his things and his brother’s things. He is particular about what he wears and decides what he wants to wear by pointing at it. He is even able to put on loose clothes on his own, with some help from his mother. He has a very good sense of time as well. As his mother is busy doing some work, he calls out to his mother and tells her it is time to pick up his younger brother from school and then go home. Hema smiles and says, “All that Prince is able to do today, all the improvement that I see in his condition, it is all because of SAMADHAN.” Prince smiles and waves goodbye to me, as his mother carries him down the stairs. It is time to pick up his little brother.

Links:

• Official website