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Page 1 of 9 17
th
November, 2008Period 37
By Hira Manzoor, Rushna Shahid & Mehreen Raashid
Circulation restricted to Program Volunteers to respect Zain’s privacy
Zain’s Volunteers!
Melanie, Mary Ann, Saniya, Aveen,Maheen, Rushna, Fatima, Hira, Hafsa
 
Page 2 of 9 17
th
November, 2008Period 37
Life is settling back into a post summer’spattern.
There are of course ups and downs, butall is well since the routine is back on track andZain has his playmates visiting him more often.Things have been going pretty well witheveryone.Hafsa’s sessions have been fun and interesting.She has learned how to deal with tantrums; thefrequency of their occurrence was helped her toget used to them. It was a doctrine of necessity.Sessions that are
slow
are the most problematicfor her because then she gets very
sleepy
. Sofinding a way to keep herself engaged is herpresent challenge.For Mary Ann there has been a mixed basket ofsessions. In one of the sessions she got upsetwhen Zain bit her; she wasn’t prepared for it. Sothat was a challenge there…For Melanie there has been a lot tantrummingdue to different reasons: computer, bathroometc. He also has been roaming around a lot bothoutside and inside the house. But Melanie is finewith that, shecan handle it.Even thetantrummingisn’t much of anissue for herpersonally;
 patience andpersistence
arethe pearls ofwisdom here! Attimes explainingthings to Zainhelps; othertimes she justlets him be.Safina too wasslow so it provedto be a greathindrance in her reactions towards Zain’sactions. A main motivation was roaming aroundbut since her legs were hurting it was a littledifficult. Still there was this one session inwhich, despite being slow, Zain managed toremain ‘present minded’.Maheen had one session which was good becauseit wasn’t boring. others have been kind of sleepy.It was quite daunting when once Zaintantrummed for an hour in a morning session. Inone of the sessions he was neither interactivenor tantrumming but the session was simply verypleasant. So yes! We have our days. Maheen toohas been trying not to phase out during hersessions. The tables are turned when youbecome exclusive in your sessions and just mightmiss a couple of opportunities to celebrate!Using toothbrushes has also been high onMaheen’s agenda lately…Fatima has had fewer sessions so she felt alittle out of touch. A positive developmenthowever was the observation that she has been
he Winnie thePooh, make a wishon a star song wasanother funmotivation:
Flap like a bird,Jump like a fish,Stand up, sit down,Wish! Wish! Wish!
 
Page 3 of 9 17
th
November, 2008Period 37
picking up a lot of cues from Zain. One of thesessions was rather nice because she went in aslow mood expecting a boring session but theymanaged to match levels and it was fun! Fatima just feels wanted and loved when
Zain wants tohold her hand
; its quite a reward to lookforward to.Saniya has recently joined the group so ourwarmest welcome wishes for her! She has hadabout three sessions so far. One of the sessionswas very overwhelming because Zain wastantrumming. Quite alright! We have all beenthere, done that (myself being the soleexception). A lot of what she has been doing issimply joining because she doesn’t know Zainvery well, yet. But it seems promising! This onceZain had her make
nawalaz 
 
for him while he ate;always a good sign!Mehreen observed that there is always a cycle inthe induction of a
new playmate
for both Minaaand Zain with initially there being low eyecontact, low level of interaction and as theplaymate and the child get to know each otherthings start progressing. There are of coursedifferent challenges for different people. Thequestion that comes to mind is ‘does this hamperthe program goals?’. The simple answer is ‘no!’. Inreal life you meet new people where initially theyarestrangersand as youget to knowthem youbecomecomfortablewith themand theybecome yourfriends. Thisis a way tohone Zain’ssocial skillsslowly andsoftly in acontrolled environment. A new volunteer isalways a challenge for Zain too; it’s simply alesson in ‘life’.Zain has got a trampoline of his own now, butunfortunately he doesn’t like it much. This wasunexpected for he just loved Minaa’s trampoline.Perhaps it is a universal rule after all ‘siblings’stuff
Is
generally more attractive then yourown!’.Recently we have been discussing many ofthe phases that Minaa went through a couple of years ago. Covering her ears is a case in point. Itis something that Zain does a lot as well.Saniya has been experiencing the first of everything with Zain. The very first thing she did wasto
roam
for a good 45 minutes. This is somethingZain does with all his newly inducted playmates!Its like Zain is ragging you, testing your limits=)… Mehreen calls it ‘breaking in a newvolunteer!’. However from Zain’s perspective, itis always challenging to have a new face in thearena, so perhaps this is his way of avoiding eyecontact. But one thing is undeniable, all the whilehe is doing this, he has the most adorablenaughty expression!Melanie observed that Zain seemed a bit scaredgoing through the garage once… there must havebeen something different there. But then shetook his hand and every thing was fine thereafter. Breaking
cars
isanother typicaldisassembling boy sportthat Zain has been indulgingin lately. Also this oncewhile tantruming, whenbeing ignored, Zain tookdown his shorts to muster areaction! Well it does soundlike an effective ploy…Recently EB also receivedquite an out of the blue slapfrom Zain while he washelping him down the stairs!A pertinent question thatMaheen posed during themeeting was whether you celebrate a
Toy cars that Zain enjoysdisassembling
of 00

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