This morning we saw many children for second and third sessions for the week. This was so nice to have additional time to talk to the parents, demonstrate techniques, talk about treatment plans, and just build more of a relationship with each of them.
After lunch and a rest, we drove across the city to the orphanage. Driving across the city might not sound like far, but trust us when we say in a city of 11 million people, it's a drive. We were warmly greeted and given a quick tour of some rooms. We loved getting a chance to talk to, touch, and interact with the kids in their beds during the tour. We were then taken to their therapy room and the needs started pouring in. We were so fortunate that they trusted us and started handing over kids to work with. We saw several kids and were able to explain the most significant areas to work on and had their staff demonstrate the techniques afterwards.
We know this was just a small beginning to the relationship we will build with this orphanage. Dr. Lin has invited their staff to spend the week training with us at his clinic next time we are here. They have expressed interest in that! They also asked for us to come back multiple days on our next trip to work with their kids and staff.
"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. - Psalm 68:5"
ALSO! Our other luggage was found!! We are so thankful and appreciate everyone praying. Prayers to finish strong tomorrow and smooth travel to Beijing and home are appreciated.
Once again, we had a very busy morning. We all went to different places, with Katie using the clinic's new sensory room and Kati and Amy teaming up to see a little boy for his second session at the clinic.
Kati and Amy were able to incorporate movement, functional play, engagement, and communication during his session. He did so much better today, he imitated play, had great eye contact, and imitated a "puh" sound for "pow-pow" aka bubbles! When he imitated the sound mom was so excited that she scooped him up and kissed him immediately. We will even get to have him back for one more session this week. His parents came in very concerned about his development and we are hopeful that we were able to encourage them. He has so much potential and we had so much fun working with this sweet boy.
The little boy Katie worked with in the sensory room was so excited to try out the ball pit! His mom was concerned about his attention, fine motor skills, and sensory processing. Katie emphasized the importance of him learning through movement. He did a great job today with following simple directions during an obstacle course. He was also able to teach Katie some Chinese characters by forming them with toy sticks.
The afternoon consisted of a presentation by Dr. Lin to staff and parents as well as Amy presenting on speech therapy treatment.
We are feeling very thankful for the blessing of knowing these kids and their parents.
"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." - Psalm 139:14
P.S. Please pray for our suitcases. One has been located, some where in the world, however the other is missing still. We would love our supplies, gifts and Katie's makeup to show up in time to be used.
This morning felt like true TEAMWorks style, a complete whirlwind. Once again, Kati and Katie were busy in one room while Amy separated and saw kids in another room during the morning.
Kati got to start her morning with the sweet 2 month old baby she assessed yesterday and was able to do a full treatment session today. Since it was her second session with this baby, she got to go into more detail with education and treatment ideas. Kati also got to sit down with the therapist providing OT and PT and go through videos she brought of facilitating development. She also discussed how to adapt activities to meet the needs of the child.
Katie got to work with a little boy with Autism that loved lots of movement. She spent a lot of time providing vestibular input in very creative ways and he began to imitate her words and initiated requesting for more. This was exciting because mom had expressed concerns with his ability to spontaneously request an activity. Katie continues to demonstrate the importance of fulfilling sensory needs so children can adapt best to their environment.
Amy had a busy morning, and was so excited about a successful session based on Floortime techniques with a little boy who had a very difficult morning with OT. Kati came and filled Amy in on his likes and dislikes and their session was located in the waiting room because that was the place he was the happiest and not screaming. We think maybe his screaming was heard all the way in Arkansas. After some time of allowing him to choose activities and decreasing to no demands, he began to demonstrate consistent eye contact and eventually after developing a fun play routine, when Amy would back away, he would come and find her and take her by the hand back to play with him. By the end of the session, he was pulling his mom and Amy by the hand to play with him. It was Amy's favorite moment of the week, so far.
The afternoon continued to be busy with the group working together to best facilitate sensory regulation and communication.
Dr. Lin continues to amaze us with his energy and vision for providing care to children here in China. He has been busy seeing patients, translating, and being very kind about traveling and taking care of 3 southern girls in China. We are thankful for his leadership and taking care of all the details on this trip.
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" - Acts 20:35
We had a warm welcome from the staff at Dr Lin's clinic. OT and speech divided for the morning, with Kati and Katie seeing three children and Amy seeing three additional children in another room.
Kati got the chance to work with a 2 month old baby on head control, strengthening, and ways to modify holding prone.
Katie enjoyed talking with parents, who were eager to learn more about sensory activities for their children.
Amy got the chance to demonstrate the "sign to speak" approach with a nearly 4 year old little boy who demonstrated characteristics of apraxia of speech, and currently only says one word. After only a few attempts, he independently signed "music" to request and by the time he left he had signed for music, baby, and car.
We enjoyed a feast for lunch with the directors of the hospital and had a short rest before our afternoon began. Kati got her hands on 3 precious babies and did a lot of educating the parents and staff about the importance of prone... We're bringing tummy time to China, folks.
We wrapped our afternoon up with Katie presenting on Sensory Processing Disorders and had a great discussion about children and sensory needs.
Despite long travels and jet lag we felt productive and pleased with today. We are so thankful for the prayers and support while we are here.
"Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." 2 Corinthians 3:5
Sunday and Monday were travel days. We had a great trip here and enjoyed a little time looking around Seoul, South Korea's airport and celebrating Kati's birthday. Our luggage did not make our connection in Dallas and prayers for that to arrive quickly would be good. Thankful for everyone praying over our trip and this opportunity to share what we love doing here in China. First day with our morning coffee!!
Oh, Happy Day...
After an emotional day yesterday, we woke up ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, running led to sweet Lori's foot getting run over by a van. Don't worry though, she's okay. She's a trooper!
The PTs and Craig were able to finish up modifying the wheel chairs for the kiddos in house one and also performed a little unexpected respiratory therapy. They started working their way through the equipment in house five and will finish up tomorrow. Under the instructions of Craig the wheelchair guru, Lori and Charity constructed a wheelchair cushion that significantly improved a young girls posture.
The STs were able to watch a representative demonstrate the smart pallet on Carlos. It is a device that will help him improve tongue placement to make his speech more intelligible. They also observed the feeding techniques used with other children, and they were able to give the nannies advice and recommendations to improve upon those techniques.
The OTs worked on nanny education in one of the more involved houses. They worked on more effective ways to handle the children with aggressive tendencies by giving them position equipment as opposed to restraints.
A big part of our day was about lifting the spirits of not only the residents and nannies of Anini, but also all of our team. We all needed a little uplifting, today more than any other day, to remind us why we are here and what we are trying to accomplish... Improving the quality of life for those all around us. We enjoyed a wonderful picnic style lunch under the patio while the Guatemalan rain fell. We shared stories, laughs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After lunch, we switched on our "Anini Dance Party" playlist and had dance party número dos with the kiddos in house 4. It was exactly what we needed. The nannies and support staff have been overwhelmingly supportive and trusting of our services, and we could not be more grateful. We have been emptying our 16 suitcases full or materials right and left by leaving gifts, books, toys and resources behind for the nannies and the kiddos.
Tomorrow is our last day at the orphanage, so please pray that we will leave behind lasting knowledge and resources to make life at Anini even better.
"Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody"