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Instructing the caregivers
Showing them how Theraband is good for proprioception Day 3
Today we brought in a whole bunch of our sensory materials for our lesson on Sensory integration and Sensory processing dysfunction. I was really excited for this topic because it is SO applicable to the children in this orphanage setting. Ella and I reviewed a lot of our materials, such as a booklet from a class I took last fall on Sensory integration, old class notes, and other sources. We used the worksheets I made up a few weeks ago, and passed the translated versions of these out to the caregivers. Although our translator thought it would be best to only invite 15 people or so, almost 30 showed up again. We had them start with a warm up exercise where they could feel different sensory experiences. I used some principles from a program called Brain Dance, in which participants move through a series of sensory experiences including tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular activities. We didn’t get to explaining what this was, but we at least wanted to wake them up because yesterday they were falling asleep even at the beginning of the lecture!! We had passed out fidget toys on their chairs before they came in the room
Sharon working with a little girl
Sharon demonstrates massage on a child too, and encouraged them to explore these toys with the children. We talked about the problems that children have who are in institutiionalized settings, or who have been abused and neglected in the past. We explained that children like this have likely been deprived of the sensory stimulation they need, that most children get naturally, and this causes lots of problems. We tried to help them understand that the behaviors they see in some of the children, such as head banging, tantrums, and aggression, may stem from this sensory deprivation, and to fix it the chidlren need lots of sensory stimulation now to make up for what they have not had in the past. What will be difficult, I think, is helping the caregivers learn what sensory input the kids need based on what the problems are. It is a complex topic that is difficult to understand even as a therapist, let alone a lay caregiver with minimal training in science, psychology, neurology, and development. We started with the category of proprioception today, and demonstrated techniques to give kids proprioceptive input. We had the caregivers rolling cylinder mats over each other, and demonstrated how a giant hug, sustained for a
Caregiver feeding child
A caregiver feeds a child who is sitting up while to provide deep pressure, could calm a child down when he is having an uncontrollable tantrum. The caregivers came to us with questions about specific children they deal with in the orphanage and we tried to give them insight into the kids behaviors and give them tips on how to deal with the kids. On monday we’ll move onto tactile and vestibular processing.
We got to spend an hour or so with some of the kids today. We tried to give them experiences they wouldn’t have otherwise, due to the lack of availability of caregivers in the orphanage and the lack of knowledge of what is important for the kids. The kids who are unable to walk do get as much love as the caregivers are capable of, but they are still very neglected and most of the day are left to lie alone in their beds or out on the porch. Ella and I tried to explain how to help do range of motion for the children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. We attempted to sit some of the kids up to work on trunk control, as they often don’t get the opportunity to practice
Ella working with a child
Ella working with a child on trunk control on a therapy ball sitting. We actully got this child to engage in a game of reach for the toy and drop it, the child squealed in laughter as we praised him for dropping the toy on the ground so we could pick it up again. Where as most parents would discourage this kind of irritating game- drop the spoon from the high chair- this is a very important skill for neglected chidlren to learn. The skill of cause and effect. It is the first step a child learns when beginning to interact with the world, most children able to do it naturally as an infant.
Then I went into one of the rooms where every child was laying on his/her back, staring into space, and attempted to engage the children one by one with a little toy duck. This was the only toy I saw on the whole unit. By tickling them and squeezing their arms, I was able to arouse a couple of them, but only one child actually attempted to reach for the toy. Most of them appeared blind, and did not respond to the toy at all whether it was held in front of their faces or whether I
Sharon and I with the kids
Assisting the caregivers in feeding the children tried to put it in their hand. A couple of them responded a little when I squeezed the toy, making air come out of the hole of the duck’s mouth blowing on their faces. One of them followed the toy with her eyes when I moved it in front of her face, so I know she could see. Another child began to laugh as I squeezed her arms, but then shortly after became irritated at the touch and began to whine. No wonder these kids are not played with. It takes a lot of effort to get them to engage with another person just the slightest bit. Some of them are easily irritated and by leaving them on their backs and not touching them they are much easier to take care of. I hope we can help the caregivers understand that some of these children do have potential, and with the right stimulation and therapy, as well as the opportunity to learn cause and effect, they may be able to some day interact with the world.
We went to a traditional Uzbek restaurant today for lunch, with our own small private room- common for the culture apparently. Yulduz has
Children on the porch
The crawling and bedbound children on the porch been eating here for 10 years with her family, and knows the owners. The whole street is apparently lined with these traditional restaurants that look like houses. Some of them treat customers fairly, some don’t. Yulduz knows this one is good and can be trusted for safe and good food all the time. We enjoyed lamb kabobs, a noodle soup, and lots of bread- although dinner is the main meal of the day for most people here, lunch has been ours!
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