Description

The England Grant of $2500 may be available for qualifying families.

Individualized grant funding for qualifying families may be available through our President’s Grant. Contact us for more details!

Please meet sweet Mario. He was born March of 2013 and is diagnosed with Prader-Wili congenital anomaly syndrome, mainly related to short stature. He is delayed in neuropsychological development. Information from June, 2022 says the following:

Mario is an extremely sweet, energetic and calm child who has a high pain threshold. He receives treatment with growth hormone. Like any child, he likes to be the center of attention. He loves to cuddle and give air kisses. Mario does not speak but says words like “am-am”, “bye”, “car”, “hello”. He uses facial expressions and gestures to communicate. He has a big desire to communicate and has even invented his own gestures for different things – like bye, go to sleep, etc. We believe that he could learn sign language very fast if exposed to it and could communicate perfectly with it. He understands and executes commands from adults. He can identify food products – salami, ice cream, candy, cake, etc., recognizes drinks and shampoo for bathing. He points to his mouth, eyes, ears, arms and legs. He loves listening to music – he really likes the children’s birthday song and dances to it. He shows what they do on birthdays – how they sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles. He can show what he does when he goes to the doctor – how he breathes and shows his throat. He shows and knows the parts of his body – like arms, legs, nose, ears, eyes, etc. He can hold a pen or pencil and scratch with them. He recognizes stickers and knows what to do with them. He can point out animals, cars and motorcycles. In the children’s book he shows Santa Claus and understands that this is who gives presents and hugs.

At the center, there is a practice of an older child being responsible for a younger child. A 20 year old woman is in charge of Mario and shares a room with him. She helps him wash his hands, get dressed and put on his shoes. Gradually, the Center has begun to teach him to be more independent and he can now dress himself. Mario sleeps in a bed without side rails and sometimes when he is not sleeping in the afternoon, he just sits in his room and looks at a magazine. Sometimes in the evening he does not wait for bedtime, but goes to his room alone and goes to sleep without a nightlight. In the morning he does gymnastics with the older children. Mario can eat alone with chopped food, drinks water from bottle. He does need regulating as he doesn’t know when he is no longer thirsty or satiated. He eats with the older children, knowing that there are three portions at lunch, and at dinner there are two. He will count the bowls and is angry if there are less than three at noon and two at the evening meal or if another child has a larger portion than his. He knows that prayer is said at dinner and he calmly and patiently waits for the older children to say it. Mario is still in diapers. They tried to wean him off but he will hold it when the diaper is off. He knows when he has had pooped in his diaper and tells the staff to change him.

Twice a week he goes to the Center for Social Rehabilitation and Integration where he works with a speech therapist, psychologist, and occupational therapist. They work with him on concentration. A social worker and a doctor work with him at the Center. He goes for a check-up every six months to check the syndrome and correct the dose of the drug if necessary. Our attorney believes Mario will thrive in a home with a Mom and Dad who have the love and time to help him grow. Could you be his family?

Video – June 2022

https://youtu.be/jt0EZ8uI31M

For more information, please contact: Kathy@wiaa.org. You will be asked to complete a parent eligibility form before any file information can be released.

Please be aware that children on our waiting list may be under review by multiple families. Additionally, a child’s availability status may change on short notice. Please contact Kathy@wiaa.org for the most up-to-date status of a child.

Disclaimer:

WIA is not responsible for the medical information summarized here. Medical information sent by other countries may be inaccurate or incomplete. Prospective Adoptive Parents reserve the right to have medical information evaluated by a medical professional in the United States.