Tag Archives: mental health
Kaspar the friendly robot helps autistic kids
Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact _ and now she hugs everyone.
“She’s a lot more affectionate with her friends now and will even initiate the embrace,” said Claire Sawczenko, Eden’s mother.
The girl attends a pre-school for autistic children in Stevenage, north of London, where researchers bring in a human-looking, child-sized robot once a week for a supervised session. The children, whose autism ranges from mild to severe, play with the robot for up to 10 minutes alongside a scientist who controls the robot with a remote control.
Tribute to Carers
Carers are often overlooked
There’s no sympathy to spare,
When it’s lavished on the one who’s sick –
The person in their care.
So often the carer needs an ear
A shoulder on which to cry,
A minute or two just for themselves
As their life goes rushing by.
An hour to spend that’s just for them
For fripperies and for fun
When at someone else’s beck and call,
Their work is never done.
An outing to the cinema perhaps,
To laugh and feel carefree,
To offload the burden,
Weighed down with love,
So a bit of life they see.
They never moan, they don’t regret,
They don’t see it as a chore.
They don’t do it as a duty
Or to notch up a heavenly score.
They don’t get awarded medals
At the end there is no prize.
But then, you see, each carer
Is an angel in disguise.
author unknown
Those dreadful nights on being a Carer
Accidents during the night are really hard to bear. There you were, lost to the world in your balanced linen, and the next moment you’re up to your arms in it. It’s at moments like these that the worst side of your nature comes to the fore. Carers have been known to swear at their piglets in the middle of the night, even though it never does any good, never did, and never will.
