Professional teachers taught 630 classes to eighteen orphans from Elatomsky Orphanage who are affected by severe developmental disorders, and that was only in January-February of this year.
The classes consist of forming essential life skills related to independent living, movement, social integration and other factors. In February alone for instance, work was carried out on honing eighty six skills and the children have already successfully mastered eighteen of them! Although these figures may seem small, behind them lies the hard work done everyday by the experts as well as the children because it is a two way street in regards to patience, and persistence in the pursuit of success!
For example, Polina L. — she is almost nine years old. Despite her age and constant progress in development, for a long time, she couldn’t clap her hands. Her teacher applauded every time they succeeded in their work. And inconspicuously she took Polina’s hands in hers to express joyful emotions, while clapping together, and to approve when the girl did well. And this long work has recently been rewarded — Polina involuntary clapped her hands, rejoicing at her teacher — she had acquired the skill!
Another task worked on dealt with taking hold of objects with two fingers, the thumb and forefinger. Sweets helped a lot — the girl really liked to pick up marshmallows and cookies. And in February she finally mastered this important skill, improving cognitive and motor abilities that directly affect her quality of life. Now this skill can be developed further by learning to put small items in a box.
Anna S. is already twenty two years old — do not be surprised, this is a great achievement in itself! Beforehand, when children weren’t engaged in development activity at all and they did nothing but lie in their beds all the time, they didn’t manage to live to that age.
Anna has noticeably grown up lately, getting taller and gaining weight. With the teacher’s help, she has recently learned to assemble a four-piece Matryoshka doll. Additionally, by repeating the teacher’s movements, she has been learning to interact with adults. For several months, Anya has been learning to bend — it’s not a simple task at all for a girl with ICP and other disorders. But Anya has managed it and, what is more, she has learned to pick up objects from the floor while holding lightly on to something. Anya loves to play and now she is learning to follow a specific order and queue in a game with her peers.
The evident skills developed in the life of Andreш F cannot be missed. Due to building renovations, the boy was moved to another department where, for the first time in his life, Andrei saw a staircase. He would have to go upstairs and downstairs every day, so he had to be taught how to do that. For more than three weeks, he practised with his teacher before he felt confident on the steps. Yet now he goes upstairs and downstairs by himself, though there is always an adult nearby.
Apart from ICP and moderate spastic tetraparesis, Andreш suffers from disinhibited behaviour with autistic syndrome and self-aggression. It is very difficult for him to be among unknown people, in a new place, let alone eat in such conditions, but it’s inevitable in a new department. The teacher immediately began working through the new conditions with him and, little by little, Andreш got used to it. Now he is accustomed to unfamiliar children. Without individual work led by a specialist, this would simply be impossible.
Bear in mind that all these children have very serious intellectual and physical disorders and each have their own ‘bouquet’ of them. Yet each of them make great development progress, thanks to the ‘Portage’ technique, which takes into account the individual personality characteristics and abilities of each child. Sooner or later, the teachers’ patience and faith in each child will bring the long-awaited victory!
We wholeheartedly thank our benefactors for supporting these classes — without you, these children’s development would be impossible! If you are interested in continuing to help their progress, click here: https://ddfrussia.ru/en/sdelat-pozhertvovanie/