Early therapies for children with Down syndrome

Dear Supporters,

With COVID restrictions easing in the country, the Physical, Speech and Occupational therapies have finally started in full-swing physically again. In this last quarter, through your generous donations, the following achievements were made possible:

• 360+ therapy sessions were scheduled weekly

• 22 new children enrolled in therapies this quarter

• As the family network that KDSP caters to, continues to grow, so does the need for Early Childhood Intervention (Physical, Speech, and Occupational) therapies. To meet the demand for therapies, ensuring that young children with Down syndrome receive interventions timely, KDSP hired 2 new physical therapists, 3 new speech therapists as well as 6 speech therapy interns. This means a lesser wait list for new families who want to avail these therapies.

• KDSP presented its paper, ‘The Virtual Shift: Early Childhood Intervention Therapies for Pakistani Children with Down Syndrome During COVID-19,’ at 2 conferences

1. ICON 2022, a conference hosted by the Indus Hospital And Health Network (IHHN)
2. At the 2nd International Annual Conference at Centre for Business and Economics Research (CBER), hosted by the Institute of Business Administration (IBA).

• Dr. Nadia Ashiq, Head of Physical Therapy at KDSP delivered a session at Indus University (IU) on “Child Growth & Development Patterns.” Engaging the audience with the latest research in the field, Dr. Nadia guided attendees on principles of typical and neurodivergent developmental trajectories.

• Ms. Samar Naqvi, CEO at KDSP and Dr. Nadia Ashiq, Head of Physical Therapy at KDSP were also invited by Iqra University for a seminar on World Down Syndrome Day, as more and more organizations shift to adopting inclusive practices.

A Family Testimonial:

“Therapies have made a huge impact on my son’s life. Although it has been only 10 months since Muhammad has started taking therapies at KDSP, there have been so many improvements. Earlier, his behavior worried us, he was usually distracted in his activities despite our efforts to keep him focused. His therapists however were a god-sent, he is much calmer now and even helps around the house. He helps set the dinner table and plays with his brother. Through speech therapy, Muhammad has also started stringing words together and can even form single sentences at a time. I am extremely grateful to KDSP and so proud of all that my son has achieved.”

-          Nazish, father of Muhammad

Through the contributions of our donors and wellwishers, KDSP has acheived all that it has this quarter. We look forward to receriving your unwavering support so that more children may receive early interventions to lead independent lives in the future.

Thank you!

Love,

Team KDSP

Dear Supporters,

This quarter enabled families to smoothly access our therapy clinics for their children with Down syndrome as improvement was seen in the COVID situation post-vaccinations. Through the support extended by you, the following were made possible:

• In-person therapy clinics operated at full capacity for Karachi based children with 259+ therapy sessions conducted weekly. Virtual sessions continued for out of Karachi children/families.
• As part of KDSP’s recently established international collaboration with Ethiopia-based Deborah Foundation, KDSP is building capacity of their team by offering training in the three therapy disciplines (Occupational, Physical and Speech therapy). Our Head of Departments and therapists from each therapy domain happily shared the knowledge and expertise they had, leading to an interactive discussion.
• KDSP presented its paper, ‘The Virtual Shift: Early Childhood Intervention Therapies for Pakistani Children with Down Syndrome During COVID-19, in the Virtual World Down Syndrome Congress 2021 held at Dubai. The research paper was further selected to be published in the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal for their upcoming issue.

While we come across many stories of children with Down syndrome achieving their developmental milestones through early therapies at KDSP, a unique and heartfelt story we felt we must share with you is of 3 year-old Ahmed. During a regular speech therapy session, Ahmed’s therapist suspected he had trouble hearing and referred him for an audiology assessment to KSDP’s partner institution. Ahmed was diagnosed with severe hearing loss of the middle ear. This was quite a shock for his family as they were worried about his future and faced a tough financial situation. In August 2021, with your support, KDSP sponsored a pair of hearing aids which would enable Ahmed to continue availing his therapy sessions and thereby achieve his developmental milestones. His therapists have since then reported an improvement in his progress and his family is relieved and ever-grateful.

With your continuous support, together we will help these children build a solid foundation for their future.

Love,

Team KDSP

Links:

• KDSP x Deborah Foundation - Virtual Training on Early Therapies
• KDSP Therapies Virtual Shift Paper published in Research Journal