Blankita
Blanca is an eight year old girl who lives San Miguel Duenas, a village about a mile and a half from our Outreach Center located at Casa de Esperanza. She and her mother walk to and from their home once a week for Blanca to receive educational therapy to help prepare her to begin to attend school.
We were introduced to Blanca through our friend, Megan Lewis, who is an occupational therapist and founder of GOT Ministries, which provides therapy to the students at New Life School. She had heard from one of Blanca's family members about a little girl who was completely out of control at home and never had been to school.
Blanca proved to be a delightful little girl who has a range of difficulties, including vision problems and very limited speech. Not knowing how to handle a child with special needs, Mom was embarassed by her behavior and would immediately step in to give Blanca whatever she wanted to calm her down.
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| Mom and Blanca's younger sister sit in on each session. |
We began working with Blanca last February, focusing on following directions, language development and fine motor skills. While difficult at times, she quickly adapted to our routine, and has made significant progress in all areas. We have worked with mom, too, to improve her behavior management skills and we are seeing growth in this area also.
An unexpected, but wonderful side-effect of holding therapy in Casa de Esperanza is the interest the men in the house have shown in the children coming to us. Roberto, who has never been to school himself, delights in helping Blanca with her tasks, and he is developing his own skills in the process.
Truly, only God could have orchestrated this!
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