LESS than a couple of kilometres separate them, but the bustling Portland Street Special Child Care Centre and the room for abandoned handicapped children at Kwong Wah Hospital could be on different planets.
The centre in Mongkok is run by the Heep Hong Society for Handicapped Children and provides an ideal model for the mental and physical development of preschool handicapped children.
Off a corridor festooned with strings of paper flowers and mobiles, in a brightly coloured room with red mats on the floor, seven members of staff were singing in unison while gently trying to straighten the limbs of severely handicapped toddlers.
Carefully, they encouraged the little children in their laps to sit up and support themselves. Some of the toddlers smiled or giggled, prompting their helpers to laugh too.
''When we started this group in September they [the children] cried all the time,'' said Agnes Ng Mun-yee, an occupational therapist at the centre.
''Initially they were so over-sensitive to handling. They were uncomfortable about stretching their limbs and a little bit overawed by all the attention and noise.
''But, after these kinds of activities their tolerance levels are much higher. They are learning to learn. This is the starting point for their training.'' All the children at the centre live at home with their parents, some of whom participate in the therapy sessions by gently pressing their children's feet on to materials of different textures, or by encouraging them to stand.
