Maria Cristina

Five-year-old Maria Cristina Almonte Sosa has one skill that few other children her age possess: she can change the channel on the TV with her toes! Unfortunately, Maria Cristina cannot do many of the other things her friends can do, like sit up on her own or feed herself. That’s because she has cerebral palsy, a medical condition that makes it difficult for her to control her muscles. Maria Cristina’s cerebral palsy is the result of a brain injury she suffered when she was born two months prematurely at the local hospital in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where she lives. Her mother Anna Cristina was having a difficult time giving birth, but the doctors chose to use forceps rather than perform a caesarian section, causing irreversible damage to little Maria Cristina’s brain.

Although Maria Cristina has a lot of involuntary muscle movement, she is able to use her feet to bring things to her so she can pick them up with her hands, and her parents say she knows what she wants, so they don’t think she has much developmental delay mentally. Maria Cristina has also been able to learn new skills and improve her strength and muscle control through ICC’s Community Based Rehabilitation program. The Sosas had a family friend who worked as a promoter (rehabilitation worker) for the program, and that’s how they were introduced to ICC. Maria Cristina has been working with Barbara Taveras, her current promoter, for an hour every week for about one year now. In addition, she goes to the local hospital for physical therapy twice a week. Her therapists say she is improving her skills and responding well to the stimulation, and in particular, they are working to help her strengthen her torso so she can sit up.

Anna Cristina, Maria Cristina’s mother, is her primary caregiver while her father Carlos is working at a shop painting cars. There are also family members and neighbors nearby who are happy to help watch Maria Cristina if her mother needs to go somewhere. Her parents hope that someday she will find a way to contribute to the family, but there aren’t any schools in Santiago that will accept her because of the severity of her condition. In a more developed country, she would have more opportunities because of her skill in using her feet, but the ICC staff will do the best they can to help her reach her fullest potential. When Maria Cristina gets a little older, she will be fitted for a wheelchair, which will help increase her mobility.

ICC’s Community Based Rehabilitation program trains rehabilitation workers to go into the homes of families like the Sosas in the Santiago area to teach parents simple exercises they can do with their special-needs child. The program helps children with all types of disabilities, from cerebral palsy to learning disabilities to behavioral disorders. It also makes life easier for their families by improving the family dynamic and saving on expensive trips to doctors and hospitals. In addition to helping the families of children with disabilities, the Community Based Rehabilitation program is working to change long-embedded cultural misconceptions about special needs children and foster understanding and respect for all people in the community of Santiago and the surrounding areas.