Day two at Spastics

Rein checking in -

"Today was my second day at SSK. Their centre is located on a peaceful, green campus about 10 min.

 walk from where we live. 

I started the morning assisting the physiotherapists in getting the kids ready for class. They are picked up from their homes by a school bus and there are several that arrive in wheelchairs. Some of the kids require special assistance to get them from their wheelchair into the school seats. This is called "positioning" and involves lifting them from their chair onto mats, some stretching of their limbs and then binding them up (comfortably) into specially designed seats to get them upright so they can actively participate during class. I found this very rewarding work.

The second activity on my schedule took me to the "home school". Here I assisted the special education professionals in training autistic kids in several basic life skills, such as focus and concentration as well as eye / motor coordination (not sure if I got the wording right here). This was very challenging work as it is really hard to communicate with these kids.

The last activity on my schedule was at the school bakery, where mentally retarded kids join in the production of bread and cookies which the centre supplies to several big clients and the general public. The kids and I had a great time baking and chatting away.

As you can imagine it was a pretty full-on day, what lots of new experiences and impressions. So it was good to have an "intervision" session scheduled with our friends Jai & Cheryl on the rooftop terrace of their wonderfully calm and serene offices. It was a good session in which we all got to have a good debrief of the week past.

Tomorrow another full day at Spastics..."

- Rein checking out.