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.

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