Rehabilitation for 50 Children with Disabilities

Greetings from Nepal! We have raised US $22,900 from 143 donors till now through Global Giving. Your continuous support and good wishes motivate us to strive continuously to bring changes in the life of children with disabilities. Thank you so much for supporting our work.

This time we are going to report about importance of rehabilitation services like physiotherapy to improve movement and function in children with physical disabilities.

Shree Ram(name changed) is 5 years old and has cerebral palsy. His parents are permanent resident of Dolakha. They have been residing at a place near Patan CBR in a rented room. Most of the people from villages migrate to cities in search of good employment opportunities and facilities. Shree Ram's parents belong to poor socioeconomic background and they do not have higher education.

Shree Ram is the only child of his parents. When Shree Ram was born he did not cry. The mother had prolonged labour period. So the boy had to be kept in neonatal intensive care unit for 15 days.

Shree Ram is dependent on mother for toileting, eating and dressing. His intellectual abilities are not according to his age. Shree Ram has difficulty in swallowing and is fed semi – solid food. He can't speak and communicates by body gestures. He keeps both forearm pronated but there are no significant deformities of upper and lower extremities.

Shree Ram was first brought to Patan CBR 6 months ago. Those days   he could only roll and lie prone. He could sit up from lying and used to sit with support by both hands.

The physiotherapist after carrying out an assessment of the child, designed treatment program. The child was given trunk control exercises like practicing sitting in Swiss ball or doing perturbation while sitting. He was given several other exercises to build strength of extremities and core.

After regular physiotherapy child can now move from one place to another on all fours. It is not exactly crawling but more like frog jumping. The child can now sit independently. The child also tries to stand when supported on knees for 2 minutes.  

The physiotherapist is working on him currently to improve trunk control to prepare him to reach further developmental milestone. The mother has been advised to order standing frame to practice supported standing but financial difficulty is there. The boy can hold small objects with both hands and transfer. But grip is poor. Exercises are being given to address that as well.

The child is active and the mother actively participates in treatment sessions. The mother is very happy with the development of child and is hopeful about further progress. She shares "We have very less resources and we could not afford for physiotherapy services in private clinics.  Later we came to know about   Patan CBR through one of the parents whose child was also being cared by Patan CBR. Here qualified physiotherapists are available and my child is getting regular physiotherapy and I don’t need to worry about expenses now".