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Post for June 5, 2018
We finally made it to Katalemwa. It is a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities and their families. We toured the facility. They provide occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and other services. Another amazing part of Katalemwa is their workshops. They had one for prosthetics, a metal shop for a variety of wheelchairs, and a wood shop for crutches, feeding chairs, etc. Many of these products were of the workers’ own design. These are then sent to children around the country. For more information about their mission and advocacy efforts, click on the link below.
Mrs. Claire, who is a lecturer at Ndejje University in early education, accompanied us and gave insight into the education system for children with special needs in Uganda. She very kindly and patiently answered our questions.
We first worked with two children with the goal of just looking for an intention to communicate. I primarily worked with a child and after some time it was clear she preferred the softer sounds such as two blocks rubbed together, and a bottle filled with water and beads. She would smile for one then turn her head for the same sound to be made for the other ear.
Dr. Brady then showed us a more effective method in which the child is given the opportunity to signal in some way, such as withdrawing the desired object and then immediately rewarding by giving the toy back or making the sound again. This could be a head turn or a reach. Dr. Brady also introduced touching the child’s hands together to help her make a hand signal. With such a short interaction with this child, we could not accomplish much but it was a very helpful learning experience for me. We had discussed some of these ideas in class, but it was far more beneficial/difficult to do these hands on.
The next child was more interactive. She was able to understand both Luganda and English but showed a clear preference for Luganda. There were two students from the Speech Path program at Makerere University that joined this session. One of them spoke Luganda to the little girl and she picked up her toy to turn and face the Makerere student, underlining the importance of testing a child in their dominant language.
These students were just finishing their bachelor’s degree and one student also displayed better child interaction skills (e.g. withdrawing the desired object) than I did. She seemed to have a clear grasp on how to elicit certain responses from the child and what kind of interactions to target. I wish I had asked if that was a more emphasized part of their undergrad program. The day was ended with sanding the wheelchairs in the workshop.
