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The last few months here in Changsha have flown by. We have had lots of people coming and going and it’s been amazing to meet people from all over the world.
I have also been away to summer camp in Heng Yang with some of our younger children. The kids were so excited to be going away, and for some it meant a reunion with John and Claire. They are a British couple who do an amazing job of running camps all year long for disadvantaged children in China.
Camp was a special time as the children received some much needed individual attention from carer ‘buddies’ from teams from America, Australia, Britain and Hong Kong.
One of the most rewarding experiences for the kids and care givers alike was going swimming. I will never forget the look of joy on their faces, as they were paddling around the pool, and floating in their rings and boats. It was a real treat for them and they loved the freedom of physically being supported by the water. I couldn’t believe how brave some of them were, even wanting to go down the big slides with their buddies!
Being on camp made me realise even more how important it is for many of the children to use communication aids. There are only a few kids here who will use much signing spontaneously, and even then it relies on other people being familiar with their signing system.
Just being able to communicate simple things like ‘I need the toilet’, or clarifying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and telling their care givers what they did and didn’t like would have really helped. We had a hard time with Zeng Kan the evening before we left. She is a very bright eight year old girl who has severe cerebral palsy affecting all her limbs and her speech. She is normally a very happy young lady but this particular evening she cried and cried and because she was so upset her ‘yes’, ‘no’ head gestures weren’t clear. I finally guessed what the problem was though - she knew it was the last day and she didn’t want to leave camp!
Zeng Kan is one of the children who will probably benefit most from a communication aid. This week she has started to use a Tech/Scan 32 machine which is ideal for her as she has such limited hand function so she needs a very touch sensitive Pal Pad switch with the scanning function turned on to allow her to select the vocabulary she wants. I think we’re going to have a bit of a fight on our hands over this particular machine though, as a number of other children at Hong Xuan home have caught sight of it and are very adamant that they want to use it too!
Liu Xiang and Zhen Quan are 14 year old boys who have severe cerebral palsy affecting their speech and mobility. They are very bright and even on their first attempts at using the Tech/Scan communication aid were independently combing 3+ words together. Typical of a growing boy Liu Xiang’s first phrase was “I’m hungry I want to go eat lunch!” They also love to tell me what activities they do and don’t like, and it is so fantastic to finally find out what they’ve been thinking!
Dong Jian is a younger boy who has started to use the Global SuperTalker. This is a brilliant machine with interchangeable key guards so that the child can gradually progress from using 1-8 pictures. Dong Jian also has cerebral palsy and what seems to be quite a learning disability. He gets pretty frustrated and has the habit of swiping things off the table and throwing himself backwards if he isn’t happy. It’s difficult to find things that motivate him, but food is one of them! He has been learning to use Picture Exchange however due to his poor fine motor control, picking up pictures and handing them over is rather laborious. I have never seen him smile so much before though as when he started to use the SuperTalker and realised how quickly he could ask for things. He also appears to love hearing the voice output and the therapists have been great at recording Chinese into the machines.
Getting set up for using the communication aids has taken a little bit of time, especially as the laminator keeps eating my pictures! I’ve also had to get instructions translated and train all the staff how to use the communication aids and some fantastic switch adaptable toys which were provided by another company. It has been tiring but so rewarding and I know that I’m in for a hectic and exciting last month here.
Melissa Potter
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Read Melissa's first report here.