Zahira is a one-and-a-half-year-old girl from Sistan-Baluchestan. She suffers from Microcephaly - a condition in which an infant has an abnormally small brain and head. She lives in a tiny apartment with his parents and three other siblings. Zahira’s father is a day worker who cannot make enough living to sustain his family. Facing financial problems, he turned to “Zanjireh Omid Charity Institute” for help. Zahira has had several physical-mental occupational therapy and speech therapy sessions at Zanjireh Omid Charity institute since her referral. In the beginning, she had frequent drooling, abnormal tongue movements and dysfunctional suckling; moreover, she could not make any sounds either. Following speech therapy sessions, her phonation improved. She stopped drooling after 15th session and her feeding problems including chewing, swallowing and suckling ability progressed. Children with Microcephaly suffer from multiple motor disabilities. For instance Zahira had no motor skills except for head and neck control. She had difficulty sitting upright as result of delay in her psycho-motor development whereas most of motor skills are developed till her age and child can walk, run and sit. She showed no protective reactions as a result of weak upper limb. Upper limb prevents the child from falling down and plays an in important role in balance and stability of child. She also suffered from club foot and muscular weakness in her upper limb. She is now able to sit after 20 sessions of occupational therapy, her club foot has been treated, she shows protective reactions , her hands movement and strength have increased and she has begun to crawl recently. Her mental development is below that of other children of her own age. Therefore she had 14 sessions of mental occupational therapy. The therapy focused on cognitive skills such as fruits recognition, actions and body organs. Zahira's lack of concentration, hand weakness (i.e. disability in throwing and grasping objects), poor eyesight and hearing, and sensory processing disorder have also improved following mental occupational therapy.
Zanjireh Omid Charity Institute wishes health for all children regardless of their religion, ethnicity and nationality.