TEAMworks Guatemala- Sunday September 28, 2014

Just call us TEAMworks Towing Company! Today we traveled out to Mama Carmen’s farm village to visit some familiar faces. We were able to see a few of our kiddos but road conditions made it difficult to see them all. We began by picking up the local pastor’s son who has always been such a great help in navigating the village and finding the kiddos with the most need. He took us to see Keyla, a sweet teenage girl we have been keeping up with over the past 4 years. Wow, has she grown up! She is still attending school, and she blessed us with the reading of a poem. While she was reading, we noticed she was skipping lines and she told us her eyes occasionally got tired during her school work. Kelly was able to give some visual scanning exercises and Carol worked on adaptive strategies for keeping her place. Due to her difficulty with visual scanning and systematic sounding out of words, Paige noticed she did not comprehend what she was reading and gave some strategies to retain the information. Leo, Nicole, and Kelly worked on stabilizing the wheels on the walker she was using for showering. Because it was rusting, Nicole was able to find a new one that fit and worked perfectly. She was also able to find her some new shoes.

We then went to Benicio’s house. Unfortunately, his mother reported that he had started having increased seizure activity and the group was collectively able to educate her about the symptoms of seizures and safety. His mother was very welcoming this time and told us that she had been bribing him with the new shoes he may get from us in exchange for doing his oral motor exercises. It must have worked because those of us who had seen him before noticed a significant decrease in drooling. We attempted to give him some of the donated shoes but we were unable to find a pair that fit…but we are a generous group and Nicole selflessly stepped up to give him her shoes. They weren’t the perfect fit but with a few modifications they worked and Benicio was very happy!

We know you are not supposed to have favorites but there is one TEAM Guatemala favorite, Wilder. His smile and infectious joy just makes you want to see and help him as much as you can; however, he was out with his family. We were able to leave a bag of things we know he really likes including adaptive materials to help him draw and write. 

Now, at the beginning of the blog you were probably wondering why you might call us TEAMworks Towing Company?...well here is why…we are EXCELLENT at pushing cars out of the mud! Please see the evidence below. 

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