Cerebral Palsy Scotland gave us hope for Mohammad
My name is Wakil and my son Mohammad is three years old, turning four shortly. He is a very calm, kind-hearted, lovely boy. He is our only child. He is very active and is not quiet for a moment. The only time that he is still is when he is watching cartoons.
We came to the UK last year from Kabul and he attends nursery here now. We didn’t know anything about cerebral palsy until he was diagnosed when he was around seven months. It does affect him a lot in his daily life, he likes to play with his toy cars but normal toys require a child to use two hands for playing. The challenging bit for him is using both hands for a task, but he is very strong willed and determined. He does not give up.
I came across Cerebral Palsy Scotland by chance, someone from the Citizens Advice Bureau mentioned Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s website. It was quite depressing to know the NHS couldn’t do much, with a single appointment taking months and months. I knew they couldn’t provide services to everyone at the level that Cerebral Palsy Scotland provides – it gave me hope.
“I lost all the fears and concerns I had”
Mohammad does not easily go with new people, we worried he may not be happy and not want to go into a session but the first day we attended, we met Lesley and Sandra who established a special bond with Mohammad and I lost all the fears and concerns that I had.
They were very professional and everything was entertaining for him. That kind of environment meant my wife was comfortable taking Mohammad to the rest of the sessions while I was working. Mohammad absolutely enjoys therapy, he says, “Hurray we are going to meet Sandra again and do lots of plays.” When he is not there he misses Sandra and Lesley’s fun.
“It is not only Mohammad who has benefitted from the sessions”
At home, we are working with him, we try to motivate him to use his right hand when he is playing or eating but it didn’t work until we went to Cerebral Palsy Scotland. We didn’t have much knowledge of cerebral palsy and the problems that he has. Now we understand how to set up a play area for him and how to help him. We always tried to give him therapy and play with him, but we didn’t know how to do that in the proper way. It is not only Mohammad who has benefited from the sessions but Sandra and Lesley have always tried to teach us how we can help him.
After we went for the sessions, I noticed, when he is playing he uses his right hand, for example, he is using a spoon. That’s a really big achievement and was one of our goals. He didn’t have sensations in his right hand, we wanted him to realise he has a right hand and now he has started using it.
He was always dependent on me and his mum. He didn’t have much confidence and now after the sessions, this changed, he gels with people easily and has the confidence to meet new people. I am thankful to have come to Cerebral Palsy Scotland.
