Never Give Up

One sunny morning, Silas woke up from a refreshing sleep.

 

The first thing he saw when he looked around was the busy figures of the nannies who were already preparing to help the children get up.

Silas’ nanny came over when she saw he was awake. Her smile and hug made Silas feel warm. She brought over clean clothes, and said, “Don't ask, Silas, I will let you dress yourself.” Recently Silas has become very independent and says, "I can do it myself!"

 

She smiled and left the clothes for him to dress himself and went to help the other children. She knows that Silas is independent now after many days of hard work and much practice accompanied by sweat and tears.

Silas was one of the first children to join the Little Deer project. He was less than three years old at the time and had cerebral palsy that affected his physical development and ability to move.

 

He could crawl, but very slowly. The biggest motivation for him every day was for him to crawl to the window and hold the guardrail with his hands to watch the children and adults walking around on the playground outside. We developed targeted stretching and body position training for him. His physical fitness gradually improved. After half a year, while holding on to something, he was able to take a couple of steps.

 

Silas is eager to walk, run, and play like the other children. He wears orthopedic shoes and walks with the walker every day. From not walking straight with the walker he has learned to adjust the direction so he can go where he wants. His efforts have not been in vain. He is walking faster and looks forward to walking independently as soon as possible, so he can walk on the playground holding his nanny’s hand.

As expected, Silas dressed himself and walked to the bathroom with the walker. After washing up he sat at the table and waited for breakfast. And of course, he insisted on eating by himself without his nanny feeding him.

In the beginning Silas couldn't eat by himself. His nanny would feed him pureed food with a spoon, but because of his swallowing dysfunction, most of the food leaked out of the corners of his mouth. When she would feed him, she would work with him to train his lip muscles to cooperate and swallow. Slowly, he changed from drinking a bottle, to drinking water and milk with a sippy cup, to being able to put food in his mouth.

 

Now Silas happily feeds himself, putting spoons of food into his mouth. He is proud he can do it on his own.

As his ability increased, his nanny would give him opportunities to do more things on his own, such as getting out of bed, washing his face, applying facial cream, brushing his teeth, putting on clothes, and shoes. It was a challenge and sometimes he did not do too well, but he still enjoyed it.

 

Silas’ improvement is inseparable from the efforts of he and his nanny, an additional benefit is his strong desire to learn and his ability to imitate.

One day after the group learning activity, the children all sat on the mat to rest. Silas happily watched the other children doing somersaults. His nanny encouraged him to try. He immediately lowered his head and stuck his but in the air. He tried a few times without success. His nanny told him to imitate his younger brother, and he was successful. Silas looked at his nanny excitedly and gave a big smile. She was also happy that he had learned a new skill!

Silas has become more and more responsible. He likes to help his nanny when she is cleaning and helps to get socks for the other children to wear. When his nanny thanks and encourages him, Silas beams with joy.

 

With every progress he makes, his nanny sees and is full of joy. She says, “We've been holding you up with our greatest strength, looking forward to the day you'll declare, "Look, I did it myself!"’

Come on Silas! Remember our agreement? One day in the future we will hold hands and take a walk in the park!