It`s been a busy week in Lima. I`ve spent much of the week sorting wheelchairs and helping our friends at Eleanore`s Project as they get ready for their first wheelchair clinics in Lima next week.
Eleanore`s Project (http://www.eleanoresproject.org/) is an NGO from the States with a very similar mission and philosophy to our own. They send specialized pediatric wheelchairs and other such equipment to both Peru and Jordan. Then they travel to the destination site with a group of therapists to properly seats all the children who will receive the equipment. This is particularly important, as many children who need wheelchairs have complex seating needs. They require careful fitting and support in order to maintain the proper posture necessary for preventing deformities and for improving respiration, digestion and circulation. Perhaps most importantly, Eleanore`s Project always include an educational component to their work, teaching parents and local professionals about proper seating and positioning and about the equipment they are receiving.
We`ve had the pleasure of working and partnering with Eleanore`s Project for several years, both through wheelchair clinics and at our AAC conferences, and Eleanore`s family (the founders of Eleanore`s Project) have become dear friends. I`m particularly excited that this year, for the first time since they began doing wheelchair clinics here in Peru, I will be here for the clinics.
This last week the group at Eleanore`s Project, along with professionals of Yancana Huasi (a great centre on the outskirts of Lima) have been organizing, separating and sending off wheelchairs for this coming weeks clinics in Lima. I was there helping and setting aside our chairs to be sent to Arequipa for the wheelchair clinics there the following week. It was a great week and amazing to see just how much could get done with a warehouse full of stacked chairs. I won`t go into all the details here, especially since I wasn`t organized enough to get any photos (I am a novice blogger after all!) and it was a long and eventful week. But, Eleanore`s Project has a great blog (http://www.eleanoresproject.org/wordpress/) where they`ve been posting updates and photos from the previous week. I do suggest you check it out, and while you`re at it you might want to read more about this wonderful organization.
One particular hightlight of the week for me was Saturday morning when there was a workshop held for parents of the children receiving chairs next week. A local therapist from Yancana Huasi spoke about wheelchair maintenance, and I got a chance to introduce the parents to the basics of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). It was really rewarding, as almost all of the parents there have nonverbal children and all were very attentive and interested - even excited about the possibilities of AAC. I`ve rarely seen such eager and interested parents. We're planning some more involved workshops for both the parents and the teachers and therapists at Yuancana Huasi, so there's a chance to make some real changes here.
That's me teaching about 30 parents how to better communicate with their nonverbal children. You can seen some parents brought there kids along too!
Stay tuned next week for updates from the wheelchair clinics, where I`ll be working with parents and their children on introducing AAC strategies.
Hasta pronto!
Eleanore`s Project (http://www.eleanoresproject.org/) is an NGO from the States with a very similar mission and philosophy to our own. They send specialized pediatric wheelchairs and other such equipment to both Peru and Jordan. Then they travel to the destination site with a group of therapists to properly seats all the children who will receive the equipment. This is particularly important, as many children who need wheelchairs have complex seating needs. They require careful fitting and support in order to maintain the proper posture necessary for preventing deformities and for improving respiration, digestion and circulation. Perhaps most importantly, Eleanore`s Project always include an educational component to their work, teaching parents and local professionals about proper seating and positioning and about the equipment they are receiving.
We`ve had the pleasure of working and partnering with Eleanore`s Project for several years, both through wheelchair clinics and at our AAC conferences, and Eleanore`s family (the founders of Eleanore`s Project) have become dear friends. I`m particularly excited that this year, for the first time since they began doing wheelchair clinics here in Peru, I will be here for the clinics.
This last week the group at Eleanore`s Project, along with professionals of Yancana Huasi (a great centre on the outskirts of Lima) have been organizing, separating and sending off wheelchairs for this coming weeks clinics in Lima. I was there helping and setting aside our chairs to be sent to Arequipa for the wheelchair clinics there the following week. It was a great week and amazing to see just how much could get done with a warehouse full of stacked chairs. I won`t go into all the details here, especially since I wasn`t organized enough to get any photos (I am a novice blogger after all!) and it was a long and eventful week. But, Eleanore`s Project has a great blog (http://www.eleanoresproject.org/wordpress/) where they`ve been posting updates and photos from the previous week. I do suggest you check it out, and while you`re at it you might want to read more about this wonderful organization.
One particular hightlight of the week for me was Saturday morning when there was a workshop held for parents of the children receiving chairs next week. A local therapist from Yancana Huasi spoke about wheelchair maintenance, and I got a chance to introduce the parents to the basics of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). It was really rewarding, as almost all of the parents there have nonverbal children and all were very attentive and interested - even excited about the possibilities of AAC. I`ve rarely seen such eager and interested parents. We're planning some more involved workshops for both the parents and the teachers and therapists at Yuancana Huasi, so there's a chance to make some real changes here.
That's me teaching about 30 parents how to better communicate with their nonverbal children. You can seen some parents brought there kids along too!
Stay tuned next week for updates from the wheelchair clinics, where I`ll be working with parents and their children on introducing AAC strategies.
Hasta pronto!
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