Hello, friendsJ
So many of you have been asking me what I actually do on a daily basis and how
things are progressing with the work here. Really what you mean is, “Wait… do
you do any work?! Or are you just snorkeling and jumping into waterfalls every
day?!” Naaah I work too. Alright, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Here’s what a typical
day looks like for me. Pshh, that’s a joke, there is no typical day here. But let me give you a general idea.
6:30 – I often go
to the beach to run and swim, unless it’s my turn to drive the kids to school
in the mini-bus at 6:45 (or unless I just reeeeally want to sleep, which never happens...;))
7:45 – Peanut-butter banana and oatmeal smoothie time (a.k.a. breakfast)
8:30…10:00 – Housework,
homework, research for therapy ideas, grad-school applications, etc.
9:00…10:00 on
Tuesdays and Fridays – Speech therapy with Isaac.
10:30 – Go to the children’s home to do therapy with either
Miguelito, Felix, or Cindy for an hour or two.
12:00 – Lunch,
spend time with the kids for a while, work on random projects
2:00…7:00 – Work
with Renán, then help with a few of the other kids at dinner time. Dinner at
the champa (outdoor Honduran kitchen)
7:30 – Home
 |
Classic rainy day activity: watch 'Enredados' (Tangled). We all
need some Disney therapy once in a while. |
I spend the majority of my time each day with
Renán. He’s my little charge, my buddy.
He’s 7, naughty, endearing, and has autism. Renán is particularly talented at creating
messes and leaving a trail of chaos, but you can’t help but love him.
He has the floppiest most adorable cheeks I
have ever seen, and chubby lips that you can’t help laughing at when he pushes
them into his characteristic pout face. He adores food, tight hugs, tickles on
his neck, and riding on my motorcycle… but mostly food, which I use to motivate
him in therapy sessions. Renán’s autism is quite severe in the sense that he is
non-verbal and struggles intensely with any sort of learning, especially
communication. Yet, God has blessed him with the amazing ability to connect to
people through touch. And I do mean
amazing.
It is so rare to find someone who has autism who thrives so much through
attachment with others, hugging, cuddling, high-fiving… you name it. It’s the
window to Renán’s heart. So I’ve been using food, diverse motion, hugging and
physical play to help Renán connect to me, to others, and to his own person.
Most recently, he has learned to put on and take off his clothes (huge
success!!). He has learned to say yes and no by tapping his right or left leg
respectively. I’ve also made and implemented a Spanish PECS communication
system, which basically consists of communicating through exchanging small
picture cards instead of spoken words. Renán understands the concept of
retrieving a card and handing it to me in exchange for something he wants, like
cookies. However, he is struggling to memorize the images on the cards, which
is key. Renán’s most critical goal is to be able to communicate, because when
you can communicate you connect with others. When you connect with others you
no longer live in a confusing world all alone.
 |
A recent project: an old pillow-case
turned highchair safety belt, adjustable in the
back with velcro. No more babies diving onto
the tile floors at mealtime. |
 |
This week's project! A trip to the wood
shop, a few toilet-paper rolls, some pvc pipe
and a laundry basket later, and we have
a new baby gym for our sweet little 9-month
old. Due to multiple impairments, she is weak
and immobile, but she needs her playtime stimulation like any other kiddo! |
 |
Miguelito is eating! By himself!
Now to get used to 5 baths a day... |
Miguelito is my
3-year-old happy man. At the children’s home the staff call him,
“Miguelito el buen muchacho” in their sing-songy way. He was severely malnourished
for most of his life and likely abused physically. Experiencing sudden
movements and being placed in any position besides upright easily startle him.
He is non-verbal, but is beginning to make some sounds just recently. He walks,
but shakily/unbalanced. That doesn’t stop him from pushing himself up and
wobbling rapidly toward me for his hugs when I see him every day. I love this
sweet awkward little boy! His tight hugs, the way he laughs when I chase him (more
like slow, exaggerated stomp-walking than running), and how he puts his hand on
my cheek and closes his eyes whenever he lays his head on my shoulder… he is
precious. I have been doing a lot of vestibular stimulation with him (swinging,
rolling, moving in all directions and speeds, etc.). He has improved so much in
this area! I got him a pair of high-top shoes to give him some ankle support and redistribute his weight so that he doesn't walk on his tip-toes. (Check out the fancy man wobbling in his new shoes in the video.) Now he walks almost perfectly straight and tall, falls much less
often, raises his head to look up when he walks and eats, twists at his
core/waist), and climbs on and off objects! He is no longer afraid to move or
be in a non-upright position. In fact, he loves it and giggles incessantly.
Miguelito is a wonder boy, and I can see God’s blessings in his progress every
day. In the past few months he went from scarcely eating any mashed food fed to
him to eating impressively large amounts of normal food, often feeding himself!
We have been doing hours of feeding/oral therapy, but he hardly needs it
anymore! I’m so grateful for how the other staff at the home have worked
especially hard lately to patiently feed him all his food numerous times a day
and really just encouraged his development.
I spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings doing speech therapy
with
Isaac, a charming,
rambunctious, 4-year-old little genius from the Lucinda community. He was born
with a cleft palate, and struggles to speak correctly and be understood as a
result. He has another surgery coming up in October, which will hopefully
finally close the palate. I am focusing on re-teaching him to pronounce sounds
that he learned incorrectly due to the cleft, the goal being that once he has
his surgery he will quickly achieve intelligible speech due to having already
corrected the incorrect patterns. I know, you are thinking, “but you’re not a
speech therapist!”. That would be correct. I do, however, have experience with
doing oral exercises with my little sister for years, and I also have speech
therapist friends and the internet.
J
I have been so thrilled (and gratefully surprised!) to see how much progress
Isaac has made! His speech is becoming more clear, and he himself is now
excited about speaking well, which for me is his biggest and most important
accomplishment.
Felix is 15
months and is in serious danger of being kidnapped into the States when I leave
(by me, of course). He is a beautiful funny boy who has some developmental
delays. I’m not sure of his diagnosis yet because he has never been officially diagnosed;
for now I am just trusting my own observations and treating his language and
interaction delays. I have been really pushing the need to feed him and the
other one-year-olds solid foods to help their oral development. We are working
on joint-play and speech sounds. If anyone has experience with diagnosing
possible autism-spectrum symptoms or ideas for early intervention, feel free to
comment below!
 |
Cindy and my dad really hit it off! Oh, did I
mention that my parents came to visit Honduras?!
Another story for another day |
Cindy is a gorgeous 14-year-old girl with a fierce and spunky attitude. She has some cerebral palsy and numerous developmental delays. She recently learned how to walk with the help of some very clever and dedicated staff here! Still, she is not truly mobile because she will not walk without holding someone’s hand due to being legally blind. She also suffers from a lack of communication and social skills. We have been working on improving her vision and interaction skills, but progress has been very minimal. Please pray for new insight for me and for new progress for Cindy!
Well there you go! God has been so faithful, bringing so many awesome results in his "due season". And now I'm off to bed, because I'm the bus driver early tomorrow morning. Buenas noches :)
