Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia | Educator: Mrs. Ajanta Iyer
DIAGNOSIS: Cerebral Palsy with Mild Mental Retardation
BEHAVIOUR: She was very friendly, talkative and with an open nature which endeared her to everyone. Her personal behaviour was often not socially appropriate in initial years in our school. She has gradually overcome this and her personal behavior is acceptable now. PHYSICAL ABILITIES: She had a very unsteady gait and would lose her balance and fall every half an hour. She had to wear a jacket with sandbags to prevent injuries. With great difficulty she could get up on her own which was part of her therapy. Someone had to help her while moving from one class to another. She would try her best to follow the exercise-yoga (standing and sitting) but could not do so. She could not play ball games or even simple games. She would only watch. This continued for two years and she lost interest in even watching others play. She remained seated in her class. She had a mild attack of fits between and was hospitalized. She is better after the treatment. After 2 years of treatment, she started taking an interest in at least watching the games, dance, rehearsals etc. Her gait had improved and she wouldn’t fall down. She could climb steps- one foot at a time. Initially, she did not want or try climbing steps, but later started doing so. Later she started doing exercises in yoga/PT with her classmates as per her capacity. She also participates in simple sports activities. She can now hold and throw a large ball. Her gait is still unsteady but she is able to walk faster now. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: Her MUSICAL skills are the best. She can sing very well and participated in group songs for the first time in the Annual Function. She also participated in a Dance Competition in the same year. Since 201, she has been singing solo. Since the last four years she also has been participating in dance performances as per her capacity. EDUCATION (READING): From simple alphabets, she can now read full paragraphs. This has been a very big task for her because of her perception problems. She was unable to understand the space between letters, words, end of the sentence to the next sentence, left to right page and from one page to the next. Initially, she had to be finger prompted with each letter, word, sentence. Later, she learnt to read by pointing with her own finger and with the help of the teacher. Now she is 80 % independent in her reading. WRITING: Due to a perception problem, she has taken a very long time to write in an appropriate manner. This is also because of her weak muscle tone. Earlier, she would write three alphabets all over the page without any semblance of order. Gradually, she started with 3-4 letter words in the same manner. From 2008 till date she has slowly but steadily improved her writing, spacing, size of letters, small and capital letters, without any help writes in a straight line with proper spacing and writes the second line after leaving 2 lines. There is uniformity in her writing now and WITHOUT ANY HELP. ART: Earlier, she was only scribbling, in 3 years, she has gradually learnt to colour easily within a given picture. She can now join dots and draw a picture. She can stick pictures but not on the appropriate shapes. She can do simple folds and make simple paper objects like a boat, fish, cup etc. MEMORY: Short term and long term memory is fairly good. She remembers events which have occurred and can relate them. RECEPTIVE/EXPRESSIVE Language is fairly good. She now answers questions to the point. She always takes a very keen interest in the regular class/ lessons unlike five years back when she used to lose interest very quickly and fall asleep. She takes interest in household work and cooking. She is fairly independent in her grooming/ADL skills. Since the last three years, she has developed skills in painting Diyas, making rachis, torans and threading beads with help. She takes a keen interest in all extra-curricular activities. She is very well mannered, wishes guests when they come, offers a chair to them and speaks to visitors. ACADEMICALLY, in the last five years, she has made tremendous improvement in spite of her physical challenges. She has successfully passed PRATHAM OPEN SCHOOL EXAMS with good grades in APRIL 2013. She is currently preparing for her last two papers in NIOS Xth BOARD EXAMS after passing in three papers. She has made teaching such a challenge and pleasure. Wishing her the very best in all her future endeavours. COMMENTS: She requires adequate therapy/exercise at home on a regular basis. She requires tutoring on a one-to-one basis. She also got good exposure to vocational. She sings fluently. She has been encouraged for music which helped to overcome behavioural issues. She passed the pratham based exam and finally, cleared SSC through NIOS.