Lavender was the third child to move to Precious Kids Center. We had met her at a meeting with the local chief of her area. At the time her father had gone away to work and had been gone for almost a year without having any contact with his family. Christine, Lavender’s mother, had three children to provide for all on her own. The extra stress of having a child with a disability made it difficult for her to find work because Lavender needed so much care and attention back at home.
Lavender on the first day we met
Lavender was eight years old when she moved to Precious Kids Center in March 2012. Her limbs were very stiff and her spine didn’t quite have the strength to allow her to sit for longer than a few minutes without support. The first few times we had met her she didn’t say a word and we were shocked at the nonstop chatter when she moved in. She became our eyes and ears on the inside and would give us a full report on any mischief that the other kids were up to when no one was looking.
Lavender hanging out in her special seat to help with her posture.
Lavender began to improve with physical therapy and gained more movement in her arms and legs. She would crawl around the floor on her stomach and move all around the house. The only problem was that the more that she grew, the tighter her muscles got and her movements became harder to control.
Lavender practicing standing with her leg braces
Despite her physical disabilities, Lavender loves being in class. She is working on her grip to be able to start writing independently, but she is able to do most exams orally and is quick to catch on to new things in the classroom.
Working on number recognition
After being with us for almost two years Lavender’s mother decided to bring her back home. She was there for almost a year. I think that her mother saw her making big improvements in the beginning and couldn’t understand that her cerebral palsy was causing Lavender to have more and more struggle with movement as she grew. Lavender was happy to be back with her family, but was missing out on therapy and school and often would sit at home alone all day. We made frequent visits to check on her and saw that she was losing weight at home because her mother was struggling to find a balance between going out to find work to pay the rent and buy food, while having Lavender and her little brother at home that need a lot of care.
Lavender with her whole family.
Last week, we stopped by Lavender’s house to talk to her mother and see how she was doing. Her mother asked if we could bring her back to the house and we are thrilled to have her back. She is jumping right back where she left off and is enjoying being back in class and around the other kids.
Lavender couldn’t contain her excitement on her first day back in class.
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