School - Reflection P1

So you are probably wondering what have I discovered....Well, as I said I spent most of week 3 reflecting on my thoughts and deciding how was best to help. I wanted to help more than I was able with only 1 child turning up to the clinic but had to figure out how this was best to happen. Also it was frustrating to know that in 6 weeks time I would leave and it is unlikely that for these kids there was going to be much change and the therapy would not continue, so I changed tact this week.
I decided that it would be easier to help, and have a greater effect by working in the school environment, which happens on the same premises as the clinic. In this way I can work directly with the kids and there are others there that when I leave can continue the suggestions.
This is a school for children both with and without disabilities aged 3-8 years, and very small. Only about 30 children at the school. A class for preschool, a class for older children with severe disabilities and two other integrated classes. As the school is on the same site as the clinic I can only presume the children with disabilities primarily have neurological disabilties but am still struggling with the diagnosis translation from spanish.
This has worked out wonderfully and the teachers are open to ideas and suggestions...I am still struggling for resources and language but now I actually feel as though I am making a diference.
One child I buddy walk every play time for 20 minutes which she loves, and her walking has improved dramastically in 4 days because now she walks everywhere with help. I think before she was carried everywhere and left to sit in the corner of teh playground and watch. I have also adapted the seating, using magazines, for one 4 year old boy and introduced the preschool class to the importance of plasticine, this has now been brought into the daily programme for all kids in this class because I suggested it for one girl with very weak hand grip.
It is amazing how adaptable the staff are and welcoming for suggestions...This is definately a better way to work when volunteering for only a short time.

Clinic - RENEUP

Reneup is a clinic for children with Neurological conditions aged 0-10 years. It is self funded by the director and the families only pay what they can contribute. It is run from his home - which is 3 floors, the top is his living areas with his 3 kids, middle is the clinic and the ground floor is the school. In the clinic they have 2 physiotherapists, 1 speech language therapist, and at the moment no occupational therapist (except me).
Well I worked in the clinic for 3 weeks and here is a brief run down. I was thrown in the deep end...
Week 1: I spoke no spanish (I was learning in the mornings) and had a timetable where had had 4 kids Monday, Wednesday and Friday and only 1-2 on Tuesday and Thursday. They turned up but I couldn't do much. In addition, as you can see I had little resources and no way of finding out what the capabilities and difficulties were for the children. This week was trial and error, lots of constrution with my blocks and drawing.
Week 2: Kids turned up but in 5 days only 6-7. Had a few resources which I bought here in the supermarket and bookshops, but still had limited spanish.
Week 3: 1 child turned up for one session all week. I heard that a surgeon was here that week from Columbia, for orthopedic surgery, and this could have been where some of the kids were. He comes only two times a year for a week each time.
I spent a lot of time in week 3 reflecting on what I was doing and asking questions of the director of the clinic about the school, the clinic and the health service in Ecuador. I have a lot of info to post but that will happen at a later date.

Therapy Rooms

The clinic is situated in a less than wealthy part of town...Most of the houses have holes but no glass for windows and those that have glass also have bars on the windows. But in all of that, the people are friendly, theres always a soccer game going on in the street in the afternoon and I can usually hear groups of friends (usually girls) inside houses playing games as I walk past on the way to the clinic.

Occupational Therapy room - 4 walls, concrete, few resources (only a pencil case with colouring pencils and scissors and a ruler, an excercise book, some building blocks I found in the attached school, and a mirror).

Physiotherapy Room - Swiss balls, a carpet mat and a mirror.
Speech Language Therapy Room - a few books, a couple of games the SLT supplied/made, and she has decorated her room nicely too.