Ernie ‘Talks’

“Look in my eyes, Ernie. Do you want a drink of water? If you do, look at my right hand. If not, look at my left hand.” Ernie, who’s cerebral palsy makes his movements jerky and who can’t speak, rolls his eyes to my right hand. “Good! You want a drink of water. Here you go!”

This week we’ve started teaching some of the nonverbal, non ambulatory kids at the Children’s Home how to express their needs through signs and eye movement. Several of them have caught on really fast and are already progressing to the picture phase. We hope that both CDI volunteers and nannies from the home can use this system to communicate with the children.

A nanny from the crawling group told us she likes it when we come play with the kids in her group. “They love it and it makes life easier for me too. After playing they sleep better. Their behavior improves; they don’t cry as much and they listen to me and obey.”