With her beautiful smile and a sparkle in her eyes, one would never guess that Morales was born with a rare brain disorder called schizencephaly.
Schizencephaly is a developmental disorder characterized by abnormal clefts, or slits, in the brain's cerebral hemispheres, according to the website healthline.com. People with schizencephaly may experience varying degrees of development, seizures, delayed speech and language skills, and vision and eating disorders.
For Morales, the disorder makes it difficult for her to swallow or communicate, challenges known as oral and verbal apraxia.
"Apraxia is not a paralysis. It affects kids' motor systems," occupational therapist Laurie Knutsen said. "What happens is that things that are very automatic for you and I aren't for kids with apraxia. They appear clumsy or awkward. It can get better with intervention, but a lot times if you do have that type of disability it is something you will have to deal with for a lifetime."
Knutson and speech pathologist Joy Glick have been working with Morales on her communication skills and motor activities.
"She has difficulty talking, but she tries. Where other kids shut down, she will keep trying; she will make herself be understood," Glick said. "She loves to learn and I absolutely adore working with her."
Knutson and Glick rely heavily on technology, namely iPad tablets, when working with Morales and other students with disabilities. Apple offers a variety of applications that help students with their coordination.
The iPad also offers an application that will help Morales communicate with her peers through a type-and-speak program.
"When she types word prediction comes up so she won't have to do as many keystrokes and whatever she writes it will speak it," Knutson said. "So, if she is doing an assignment for her class, she can't go up and verbally present what she's done, but she can access the speak features on the iPad so that she can do her presentation orally through the device."
Most recently, Morales was one of 115 children throughout the nation and Canada to receive a free iPad of her own from the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA).
The organization is a nonprofit publicly funded charity whose mission is to "strengthen the support systems in the lives of children with apraxia so that each child is afforded their best opportunity to develop speech and communication" the organization's website read.
Glick, who was familiar with the organization, filled out the necessary paperwork and jumped through a lot of hoops to submit Morales' name for consideration.
"It was a big to-do as far as the grant application and recent evaluations," Glick said. "We had to have it in by the beginning of October and she just happened to get it."
With an iPad of her own, Morales has access to a communication device 24/7.
"She's been wanting one, but I told her that maybe she can get one for her birthday or Christmas," said Dulce Morales, Alondra's mother. "When I found out she got one, I was so happy, because they are so expensive."
In addition to the iPad,
Morales uses sign language to communicate. She also is fluent in Spanish.
"Friends say, 'Alondra can't talk, but she tells everything'," Dulce Morales said, laughing. "At home, she does everything; she swims, she rides bicycles. Never do I say that Alondra can't do this or that - she can do everything."
(Source: dcourier.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment