When I was in Ghana, I was visiting the Special Needs School in Kumasi and met one young boy who instantly stood out. Steven is a very happy chappy, who shows a lot of determination.
I observed that he was able to communicate well with signs when he asked me if he could go out and wee, he then crawled out and with support of the wall was able to stand up and wee independently. I was sure that we could help Steven to develop greatly if he was given the right input and it made me wonder what input he was already getting.
Fred and I were introduced to Steven’s family during the summer vacation and we were able to find out about his history and current situation. When Steven was younger his mum would take him to physiotherapy at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital regularly, but like many families we meet in Kumasi, as Steven grew bigger and older he became too heavy for his mother to carry. Many families in this situation subsequently give up with physiotherapy as they have no other options. However, Steven’s family heard of one of the only Special Educational Needs schools in Kumasi who offer physiotherapy as part of their daily schedule. This school usually does not take children who cannot walk, but somehow Steven managed to pass through the assessment process and was accepted into the school. His Mum was excited to see how Steven would progress getting regular therapy input and special education.
Steven is 11 years old and has been attending this school for 2 years, but his mum has observed little progress to his development. When investigated further we found out that due to the high numbers of children within the school Steven is yet to receive any therapy. The head of therapy at the school is very passionate, but extremely over-worked; he offered his time over the summer vacation to work with Steven and his family. Fred arranged between the family and school and Steven had 3 therapy sessions during vacation.
Through Family First highlighting Stevens’ needs and pushing the school to ensure he is receiving the therapy he requires the teacher has now included physiotherapy as part of Steven’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). This means that Steven will now receive weekly physiotherapy as part of his special education working towards him being able to stand independently and supported walking: demonstrating the positive effect of advocating for care for children with disabilities in Kumasi.
Family First have worked within the home to ensure the family are aware of activities that they can be doing to increase Steven’s independence, such as speech and language exercises and developing his self-feeding and dressing skills. The teacher at school has advised that Steven would benefit massively from having a standing frame and parallel walking bars at home. Steven is now able to stand independently for around 4 seconds and take a few supported steps; a standing frame would help with increasing core strength and the length of time that Steven can weight bear. The parallel bars enable Steven to practise walking with a minimum amount of support.
Family First Ghana would like to support the family in getting this equipment made locally and are asking for one off donations to cover this cost of:
Total: £280
Standing Frame – 400ghs - £65 Parallel Bars – 750ghs - £130 Speech and Sensory Toys – 120ghs - £20 Additional costs – 400ghs - £65 (Including: assessment and measurements, nutritional support, transport (family and equipment), staff salaries, etc.)
If you would like to organise a fundraiser to support Steven please email us for more information at familyfirstghana@hotmail.com
Or you can donate towards Steven's specialist equipment here: -
We are excited to be able to advocate for families like Steven's to ensure that they are receiving the quality care, education and therapeutic input that they deserve.
Families can go from Surviving to Thriving!!!
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