Faltaous K.M. was born on July 26, 2017, to a humble family. His father works as a daily wage laborer, while his mother is a homemaker. Faltous has an older sister named Irene. The family noticed that Faltous could not communicate with them and was constantly drooling.
Despite the mother’s attempts to communicate with him, there was no improvement. As Faltous turned five years old in July 2022, his parents decided to enroll him in the Shepherd and Mother of Light Special Needs Center in Taha, Samalout.
The trained teachers showed love to Faltaous. They began working on his speech by performing exercises to improve his oral motor skills. They used techniques such as moving his tongue, breathing exercises, blowing candles, and smiling. Smiling involves several facial muscles and is a simple exercise that can help improve oral motor skills.
After two years of consistent therapy, Faltaous has made significant progress. Although he had to pause his therapy for a few months because of brain surgery to treat hydrocephalus (to drain the excess fluid in the brain), he has made a full recovery and returned to the center. His tongue is now stronger, and he can nearly pronounce all letters correctly.
The efforts to help Faltaous will continue until he can easily pronounce all letters correctly.
