Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining

Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining

I’ve now been living in Lusaka for 2 months and am beginning to settle down into a routine.  My work is really interesting and the client group very diverse.  Every day though there are challenges just as every job has.  I work in a small team and support children with a range of communication difficulties.  I love the children because, despite their difficulties, they always arrive at the Centre with a big smile on their faces!

There is a technique for working with children with autism or ‘hard to reach’ children, called Intensive Interaction©.  I have been implementing it with one boy for the last two weeks almost every day.  It is amazing to see how effective it is.  (I’ve obscured his photo for privacy).

Initially the boy showed little interest in people, preferring to wander around the room looking at the walls and ceiling.  He is generally non-verbal and was initially very detached from people.  Through Intensive Interaction, which is basically mirroring the child’s movements, sounds and actions in a range of contexts, he now hugs me and loves taking my hand and we move around the room together.  It really feels like we’ve made a connection!

He smiles a lot socially and is beginning to produce some single words in context, which is wonderful to hear.  He has a long road ahead of him in terms of communication but it is wonderful to make a connection, make him smile and have him initiate interactions.  He no longer stares at the ceiling or walls but will sit and enjoy singing for up to 20 mins, occasionally joining in with sounds or claps.

I was also very privileged recently to provide a training session at a local charity hospital. This involved providing information on early intervention and how to encourage a child’s communication through play.  I used a few simple toys such as a ball, bubbles and crayons to demonstrate techniques on how to stimulate a child’s speech and language.  Most of the small children under two had cerebral palsy, autism, Down Syndrome or were blind.  The young mothers, totalling about 60 and all their small children, listened so attentively and seemed to enjoy singing ‘Head Shoulders Knees and Toes’ in Nyanja and laughing at my accent!  They all sang before my session and this was very moving.

I also see children in my afternoons for 1:1 therapy which is rewarding as I often see the same child more than once a week.  Our Centre is private so parents have to pay a fee.  It is wonderful to be able to provide so much hands-on therapy and begin to notice changes and improvements on a weekly basis.  In the UK, so much Speech and Language Therapy is consultative which means training and supporting others to do the interventions.  Here, I am providing a lot of direct therapy and being challenged to do so with limited resources which stretches you clinically.  I have always said though that the tools of the trade of a Speech and language Therapist when working with small children is the person themselves – ideally with a pot of bubbles and a balloon in hand – these can go a long way!

The other funny thing that’s happened is that my arthritic knees seem to be causing me less pain these days.  I’m wondering if it’s a combination of the heat and the trampolining.  I trampoline with the kids on a daily basis and it seems to be helping – who would have imagined?!

Next Blog, I’ll write something about the wonderful birds I’ve seen in Zambia following a whole morning bird watching.

Tizaonana!

Jenny