From staring to reaching - a case study of a special child

A Journey to Stare Then Reach - a case study of a special child

This is a story of a little angel of in the school Durgabhai Deshmukh Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Centre. The mother of the little angel is a homemaker while her father was working at a press. Little angel was the first child of her parents and was born on 19th March 2012. She was born normally like any other child. But later she had to become a special child because of her health issues. At the age of 3 months, she had pneumonia due to which her growth got delayed. Doctors titled her problem as Global Development Delay. Her parents happened to notice this as the child was not meeting the development milestones on time.

She was not able to roll, crawl, sit or stand. She was always in her mother’s lap. She had to stare at all things although she wanted to reach them. She even had a squint in her eye. She had to undergo eye surgeries at a very young age of 1 year. Later, advised by doctors to go for Physiotherapy her parents came with the child to DDVTRC. They approached the school on 27-6-14. She was soon put up in the physiotherapy department.

Physiotherapists trained the child initially for rolling, creeping, crawling. In the starting days, the child was not at all cooperative. Later she got adapted with it and soon she started learning all the movements and exercises taught to her. She learnt rolling, creeping, crawling, sitting in the very first few months. Later she was taught kneeling, half-kneeling, standing. The child achieved these in four months.

Once her functional activities were improved, she was trained for walking. As she learnt walking, she even improved her hand functions and finger grasp. She was now able to hold all the things, which she only stared at earlier. In the sixth month of her training, she started walking and climbing stairs with wall support.

Now, this completes her journey to reach from staring.

Learning points

“Pregnancy”, “Motherhood” is a very beautiful and a happy memorable period in a women’s life. Utmost care of the mother and the baby during the following periods is required to prevent birth of a child with special needs.

• Pre natal period – 0-9 months
• Natal period – during delivery time
• Post natal period – After birth

Precautions and measures

1. Nutritious and well-balanced diet is essential for mother and child at all times.
2. Proper and regular health check-ups should be done during 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester. Any disabilities, if present, may be identified during scans done during these check-ups.
3. Vaccination of the mother during pregnancy and vaccination of the child after birth are important for the child.
4. Mother should avoid lifting heavy weight objects or take up activities which require rigorous physical activities.
5. Delivery should be done in a hospital. Forceps delivery should be avoided as this includes the use of forceps, which may cause injury to the child.
6. Any kind of health issue after birth should be taken care. For eg. viral fever, jaundice, pneumonia, etc. Delayed attention to medical needs may also result in brain damage or developmental delays.

Source:
Andhra Mahila Sabaha DDVTRC,
Osmania University Road, Vidyanagar, Hyderabad-500044.
Ph: 91-040-27634299, 27636686