Strategy and Key Success Factors

To contribute to the mental, social, spiritual, emotional, and physical development of children with severe and profound mental and physical disability by providing affordable places of safety, love and care.

5.4. Strategy and Key Success Factors

What gives Lilita a competitive edge is that our facility provides professionally trained care takers (midwives and social workers) and occupational therapists and physiotherapy. They have the skills and attributes that enhance the quality of life for persons living with a disability and facilitate the desired degree of independence sought by the person and their family.

Midwives use health promotion strategies and take into account the social view of health, emphasizing education and participation in the prevention of avoidable disability and the achievement of human potential.

Below is a list of models that will be used in the development of children with disabilities

5.4.1. Water Therapy

Hydrotherapy is used as a treatment for children with disabilities and motor delays.

Hydrotherapy has been used for musculoskeletal and neuromuscular rehabilitation for over 100 years. It has been shown to improve motor performance in children with muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, and Rett syndrome. Hydrotherapy is based on the principles of hydrodynamics (buoyancy, relative density, viscosity, resistance, hydrostatic pressure, turbulence, and flow) and is thought to provide multiple sensory stimuli through water temperature, weight relief, and vestibular input.

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

Figure 5 A physiotherapist conducting water therapy

The properties of water assist active movement, provide postural support, and promote relaxation of spastic muscles, improved circulation, and strengthening, allowing a variety of fundamental motor skills to be performed, relative to an individual’s skill level. Aquatic activities also provide opportunities for social interaction and play, which can facilitate

language development and improve self-esteem, self-awareness, and sense of accomplishment.

A survey of 18 occupational therapists using hydrotherapy to treat young children with ASDs reported a substantial increase in attention, muscle strength, balance, toleration of touch, initiation and maintenance of eye contact, and social participation. Additionally, children with ASDs and their parents described aquatic therapy, water play skills, and swimming as

enjoyable.

‧

Light is essential to maintaining normal, healthy physiology. Exposure to the sunrise is a key factor in synchronizing our internal body cycles or circadian rhythms to the external world (so we sleep when it is dark and are alert during the day).

Scientists believe that bright light therapy works on several different levels, producing a combined beneficial effect. When used at an appropriate morning hour (or in rare cases, evening hour), it corrects the misalignment of the internal body clock, known as the circadian rhythm, with external night and day. Bright light therapy, acting on the body’s own response to light, may also stimulate the brain's production of the neurochemicals responsible for positive moods. This may explain why people not getting the light they require feel lethargic, less motivated and experience the blues.

5.4.3. Sound Therapy

Sound therapy is the application of sound waves to encourage cellular reorganization, optimal physical health, mood enhancement and psychological well-being (source). When we talk, sing and listen to music we are catching the vibration of the sound waves. We live in a vibrational universe and we are vibrational beings. Our bodies are 60% wa ter. Our fluid-filled cells vibrate continuously at their own unique resonant frequency. Sound waves also vibrate through the air at a certain frequency and can be transmitted through fluids or our body at an even faster frequency.

Through the ear we can perceive and process sounds and maintain our physical equilibrium. The sound waves (movement of air molecules) travel along it’s passage until they hit the eardrum and cause it to vibrate. As a result, the ear, translates these vibrations

‧

into nerve impulses, which travel to the brain where they are decoded. Through the larynx or the voice box, we can produce sound with the vibration of the vocal cords.

The vibrations of the sounds (mantra) we hear and sing can penetrate through our skin, ears, bones, and viscera. Our physical bodies act like big resonators, responding to the vibrational patterns around us. When we observe two pendulums in close contact, they synchronize and resonate at the same frequency. This phenomena is known as entrainment, and it accounts for why our heartbeat and our breathing tend to synchronize with the beat of music we listen or chant.

5.4.4. Exercises and games

The primary goals for increasing physical activity in children with disabilities are to reverse deconditioning secondary to impaired mobility, optimize physical functioning, and enhance overall well-being. Regular physical activity is essential for the maintenance of normal muscle strength, flexibility, and joint structure and function and may slow the functional decline often associated with disabling conditions.

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are significantly weaker than age-matched controls, and strengthening and weight-bearing programs are recommended. Moreover, female adolescents with CP have a lower self-concept than their counterparts without disability in the domains of physical appearance, social acceptance, athletic competence, and scholastic competence. Adequate levels of muscular strength and endurance are associated with increased bone mass, reduction in injury from falls, and a greater ability to complete activities of daily living.

‧

A strength-training program for young patients with CP demonstrated increased strength, improved mental well-being, and better overall function. Another example is that of children with Down syndrome; although they have less muscle strength than typical children, they show increased exercise endurance and work capacity after participation in a specialized aerobic training program.

The current epidemic of obesity associated with inactivity is a global health care concern for all children, including those with disabilities. Children with disabilities are more likely than other children to be sedentary, placing them at higher risk of obesity and associated health conditions. In fact, children with certain developmental disorders have higher prevalence’s of being at risk of overweight and being overweight than do children without developmental disorders.

Physical consequences of inactivity for persons with disabilities include reduced cardiovascular fitness, osteoporosis, and impaired circulation. In addition, the psychosocial implications of inactivity include decreased self-esteem, decreased social acceptance, and ultimately, greater dependence on others for daily living. Overall, the participation of children with disabilities in sports and physical activities can decrease complications of immobility.

‧

Marketing our service-oriented business requires establishing a reputation for expertise and excellence. It starts with our known contacts who are in positions to recommend us and make referrals to us, and continues with long-term efforts to develop recognition among social service fields.

6.1. Market Segmentation

Our market segmentation will be children with disability ranging from the birth to 19 years. In most cases children with chronic diseases have a short span of life-so the majority will be dead by the time they are teenagers. Recent study has shown that there are more children born with disability than those who develop a disability after birth.

Causes of disability

Causes %

From birth/congenital 47.1

Disease/illness 28.3

Accident 18.5

Witchcraft 3.6

Figure 6 list of causes of disability in Swaziland

Source: A Natural Representative Study - Living Conditions Among People with disability in Swaziland

The main message is that the causes related to birth are pronounced. Disease and illness is also high, and for the most related to early age and childhood. Accident is also an important cause, and witchcraft ranks as number four with 3.6%