The first time I met Thanh as a therapist for the Integration 1 project, Thanh’s innocent smile left a special impression on my heart.
Nguyen Hoang Thanh (9 years old) in Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province, was born with Down syndrome. Yet, his face is always lit up with a bright smile. In the first session of the intervention process, Thanh could only babble “hello”, “mama”, “pa” with unclear pronunciation. He did not play with me and only played the games he wanted. However, on the fourth session, when seeing me coming, Thanh ran out to hug me and loudly called out “Miss Mo” in very clear pronunciation. Those two words were the motivation for me to work hard every day.
(Picture of Thanh learning)
There was a time I contacted Thanh’s mother to schedule the next session for him, his mother shared, “In the past, it was difficult to call him back home once he hung out outside. Now, I only need to say that Ms.Mo was coming and he will rush home.” Seeing Thanh so eager to learn, I was enlightened.
The miracle did not stop there. After a period of learning and playing together, Thanh can speak single and double words with the level of understanding reaching 60-70%. Moreover, the boy can also make short sentences describing the pictures.
(Picture of Thanh learning)
Until now, at the end of the intervention process, Thanh’s mother shared, “Thanh has improved a lot and his pronunciation has become clearer. Our family is happy and grateful to the project for taking care of my son so that he can have such development today.”
Thanh’s outstanding progress is the result of not only his own efforts, but also the cooperation of his family, and the support of the “Inclusion 1” project. Without the project, Thanh and I would not have been able to meet and have such a wonderful time learning together. Thank you, Inclusion 1, for connecting the technician team to families who are in need, so that we can perform our jobs in the most meaningful way and bring to those families.
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