Such a difference...

I’ve been staying with Isis (another SLT volunteer) in Mumias this last week. Not only has it been lovely because of the company in the evenings, but also, the joint working (I’ve missed that) and how much of a team the staff at the EARC there are.

It’s made me realise that at the moment, there is no MDT working at the Vihiga EARC, especially between the SLT’s and the assessment teachers. This definitely needs to change asap because I have seen how much of a difference effective collaborative working can make here...

The EARC in Mumias is more established than Vihiga, especially when it comes to SLT work, and this is because there have been a flow of SLT volunteers there for the past couple of years. As a result, everyday a child came in for SLT assessment, there was very little ‘thumb twiddling’ time and in one week Isis ran two training sessions. Working there for a week has definitely made me much more focused in my ideas on what I want to achieve in Vihiga when all returns to normal in September.

Things that have shocked/surprised me this week:

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•             During some training Isis ran for staff at Butere Hospital, one of the doctors stood to comment about a husband and wife who were deaf (and dumb – as they continue to be called here...) who had a child. That child was not deaf, so the doctor felt it was best to remove the child from the family in order to prevent him from becoming ‘’dumb’’ too...

• ·        A child who has Autism is being ‘treated’ with an adapted diet, which basically means the parent has to cut out all wheat, dairy, sugary, some fruit and veg and animal based fats/oils from their child’s diet. This is being recommended by the Kenyan Autism Society who has a whole load of foods that a child with Autism should and shouldn’t eat to help moderate their behaviours. I’ve read their hand-out about it... It’s all contradicted by itself and is clearly sponsored by a cooking oil company, which is ridiculous. I asked the mother if the diet had had a positive effect on their child’s behaviours etc. unsurprisingly there had been none!!

• ·         Caning is illegal here. Yet, I was told that 10year old Andrew is repeatedly caned by his teacher because he is struggling in class. Andrew was brought to the EARC by his father, he attends an academy school (one that you have to pay a lot of fees to attend) that’s on the site of the Mumias Sugar Factory. For the first time in what feels like forever, Isis and I carried out a language assessment (my first one here) to look at his expressive and receptive language skills. Andrew is a really bright boy, he’s 10 and we were giving him all of the instructions in English and he understood all the directions. We concluded that Andrew has significant word finding difficulties, which are made considerably worse when he is put under pressure. He is coming last in his class, a class of 43 with 1 teacher – you’d think that because it’s such an expensive school, there would either be smaller classes or teaching assistants... – and he told this on a daily basis, and caned to add emphasis to the point.

We met with his class teacher and I had to bite my tongue to not say anything inappropriate/rude to him about his treatment of Andrew. It’s just really bad timing now because the schools are shut for a month so no further input can happen until September.

Things that have been amazing this week:

·         Working with Isis to support a little boy in developing the use of PECs and observing him request for things consistently throughout our session, as well as making eye-contact with all of his communication partners... including his father.

·         Helping Isis persuade a mother of a 7year old girl with Cerebral Palsy, who has excellent understanding, that developing a communication board would be beneficial to her daughter. This was the fourth time Isis had spoken to the mother about the option of AAC, and we think (hopefully) she is starting to come round to the idea.

·         Meeting even more wonderful people who are determined to help and support children with special needs, even though they are faced with challenges unlike any we see at home everyday...

I am going to Kampala, Uganda for a meeting this week (as you do – just popping to Uganda for a meeting!!! Haha, love it!!) to help set up an association for Speech and Language Therapists in East Africa. There are about 10 speechies in Kenya, all are international. 13 qualified from university in Kampala last year, and about the same will be qualifying again this year. There is no organisation to moderate and support the profession here yet, so that is the aim of the meeting. I’m sure it’ll be interesting, and a great excuse to visit Uganda...