Monique

Monique absolutely loves people and thrives on 1:1 attention. She seems fragile but is quite active and constantly seeks connection with others. Because of her chronic pain, she moves her head around a lot and has trouble orienting to where she is at times. She tends to use her peripheral vision to see and will often turn her head to one side to see you better. Her eyes look closed but don’t think for a moment she isn’t absorbing a lot and able to see and recognize you. She also recognizes people by their voices if you have the luxury of spending ongoing time with her. Despite the head movements and difficulty making eye contact, Monique bonds extremely well and is very aware of her surroundings. She melts into you when she is held, partially because she loves cuddling and partially because it alleviates her constant spinal pain. Because she does not speak, she will let you know she wants to be held by pulling and tugging at you. She has quite a grip! You can also sit with her on the floor and cuddle her in your lap. Monique has good receptive language and understands simple directions and clear statements. Monique loves music and loves to be picked up and danced with. She has difficulty settling down to eat, but patience and clear direction will help her orient and transition into feeding time. She has some difficulty swallowing liquids, so care should be taken. Since Monique moves constantly because of pain, she does not have much ability to sustain an activity for very long before she is on the move again. It would be great to try to get Monique comfortable and try sustained activities with her like reading her a book and showing her the pictures, drawing for her or facilitating her drawing, singing a song that has several verses and a chorus that is repetitive, or any other activity where she can receive ongoing mental, visual, or auditory stimulation