Making a Difference in Santa Maria

One of the main reasons (other than for us to have much needed time to hang out together) that Donna and Vickie came to Guatemala was to meet some of our blind students in Santa Maria, and for her to give us ideas about how to best meet their needs with our limited resources and skills.

Vickie was initially concerned about how she would be able to help at the school, since her background was not education.  About five minutes into her first visit, Roman took care of that, claiming her has his own personal tutor for the time she was there.

Donna spent time with three of our students and one young man who lives in Santa Maria.  Her suggestions were practical and appropriate for our skills and resources.  This will change the way we approach the instruction of these students, and increased our confidence levels in our being able to meet their very special needs.

Jennifer Giesmann, our Speech Therapist (pictured above with Donna) arranged for the families to bring their children to the school for Donna to evaluate.  The parents were more than happy to do this, and for some it became a family affair.  You can meet these young people and their families below.

Yamelin is eight years old, who is blind as a result of being born prematurely.  We had been concerned that she was showing signs of autism as well as blindness.  This was one of the most important outcomes of Donna's visit, as she reassured us that Yamelin was exhibiting characteristics typical of a blind child who has not had much stimulation.

This year, Yamelin has not been in school, but in prior years had been in the kindergarten class.  While the teacher had done her best, it was impossible for her to give Yamelin the type of specialized instruction required by her blindness, while attending to the other kindergarten children.  The family had attempted to send Yamelin to a special school in Antigua, but, since this did not work out well, Yamelin has been out of school this year.  We are hoping that her mom can bring her to the school in the afternoon the rest of this year to work with Jennifer and me individually.  We will then evaluate whether she should return to the regular school program, or continue working 1 to 1 with us.

When Yamelin came for the evaluation, we discovered that she had been going to sell vegetables with her mother at the Antigua market, and were pleasantly surprised at her language development.  While she had pretty much just been echolaliac (meaninglessly repeating what had been said to her), she now responded more appropriately, and even verbally extended some of the things we were saying to her.  The funniest part was she learned an English work working with Donna.  When they were playing ball, Donna would say "push," and Yamelin began repeating this each time she pushed the ball!  We got a good laugh out of this!

 Rony is a six year old with cerebral palsy as well as blindness.  Donna was able to recommend activities to help prepare him for further schooling as well as make suggestions to Jennifer about how to structure the environment to help elicit oral language from him.

Rony's entire family came with for the evaluation, and they were only too happy to show us how he could use a specialized walker which had been designed and donated by a friend from Ireland.

Rony with his dad and sister

Showing off his walker under
Dad's watchful eye

Rony's sister became fast friends with Vickie

. . .and with Donna.

The last of Jennifer's preschoolers who came was Josef, a four year old, with low vision.

Josef really liked playing with Donna's flashlight, though looking at him hold it so close to his eye makes my eyes water.  It indicates, though, how his eyes, while seeing light and dark, are not very sensitive to light.





Donna's recommendations were especially helpful in teaching us how to effectively use what little vision Josef has to support instruction.  He was probably the most lively of the children we worked with this week, and gave us plenty of smiles along the way.

While not a current student, Judy Kerschner, the school administrator, took us to visit Byron in his home.  Byron had studied at the school through sixth grade and, with his cousins, is now attending Basico (Junior High) in a public school in Santa Maria.  Byron has Marfan Syndrome, which affects many parts of his body, including his vision.  Byron can still see to do many tasks, but requires amplification to read and write. Donna was able to talk with him about the assistive devices he is currently using, and it is hoped that with her help we will be able to obtain other tools to help him continue with his education.  

Donna with Byron's sister, as Byron and Judy look on from behind.

The week went fast, and Donna gave us many ideas to implement with the kids in the future.  Now our real work begins!  Thanks, ladies, for making a difference in Santa Maria.