Summer Newsletter

International Therapy Outreach Teams, Inc

bringing hope and help to show God's love to the world

                                                                                                                                                    Summer 2011





     In April and June, I was able to work with a team of teachers and other therapists at two of Joni and Friends International Family Retreats,one in Serbia and one in Ghana. We worked with each child and their family individually to teach therapy techniques and answer questions.

     In addition to the Serbia retreat, I was able to give a Sensory Processing workshop at a school for children with special needs on April 23rd in Sombor, Serbia. The workshop was attended by twenty teachers who learned about the sensory systems and how to help children with sensory processing disorders. They were taught how to adapt the environment and to add important activities into the school day in order to help the childen be ready to learn and develop.

The training ended with teams of teachers brainstorming new activities to do

with equipment that is available at the school including pillows, therapy balls

and blanket.





Dorothy



    Dorothy is a 10 year old girl with arthrogyposis, a developmental disorder that fuses the joints so that you can not bend the elbows, wrists, knees or ankles. When she was born, her parents were told to throw her into the river. This is still a common practice in Ghana where disability is seen as a curse from the devil. Thankfully, Dorothy’s parents didn’t listen to that advice.

   Dorothy is a very smart little girl and after a number of surgeries she is now able to bend the elbow of her right arm which makes it possible for her to do almost everything for herself including feeding and dressing herself independently. Her knees are still healing from surgery but she should be able to walk with crutches soon. We were able to share ideas with her parents for ways to practice walking with support when she is ready. We also gave them lots of encouragement for the great job they are doing with their daughter. Dorothy’s big smile and determined spirit made it clear that she is not going to let anything stop her! 

      UPCOMING TRIPS

       California Joni and Friends office

 July 20-26

Romania

 Aug. 29-Sept 6

Haiti

 October 7-16

iTOT provides therapy and training to the disabled in the developing world

who are often rejected, isolated and hopeless to show them God's love.

To make a tax deductible donation send check payable to:

iTOT

231 Adrian Court

Lansdale, PA 19446

     

   

   

Ghana Family Retreat with Joni and Friends

The Family Retreat went well and the therapy team was able to work with each family to give suggestions and answer questions.  We hope that each family will have some new skills that they can use with their child to help improve function and make their lives alittle easier.

Some of the highlights were:

Watching Dorothy, a beautiful 10 year old girl with arthrogyposis, figure out how to do EVERYTHING her brothers were doing with a big smile on her face.

Picking out and hand fitting a wheelchair for Sylvester that will now allow him to sit up and join in to the activities with the other kids.

And when Parle, a 12 year old girl with cerebral palsy, who cried big tears when I tried to show her parents how to do ankle stretches, started laughing at me when the PT Jenny showed her parents by stretching my ankles and I started to "cry" too.

What wonderful kids!  I hope to be able to come back to Ghana again someday soon and work with them and their families again.

Ghana update June 2, 2011

We arrived in Ghana  on Tuesday morning and had a day to rest and prepare.

On Wednesday the Ghanian missionaries who are working with the families and taking care of the kids checked into the hotel.  Jenny the PT and I did a training on disabilities.  Some of the activities included simulated "disability" games including leading someone around the grounds who was blindfolded (visual impairment), going up and down curbs with the wheelchair and buttoning with a motor impairment (in this case, wearing work gloves).

On Wednesday night the families arrived and we started working with some of the kids on Thursday.  We are working with each family to try to help them with things that are difficult at home.  For some it may be finding a comfortable position, for others it may be learning to use crutches to be more mobile, for others it may be learning to use an adapted spoon to be more independent.  For Christiana today, it was learning to transfer in and out of the car from her wheelchair.  She did great!  This will make it possible for her to be out in the community more and be more involved.

Looking forward to seeing more kids tomorrow!