Suzann Fenton (second on left) with Angel House staff in Nanning, China.

Since the early 1960’s, the Christian Appalachian Project has been providing services to people in need throughout Appalachia.  But did you know that CAP’s services to children with special needs have also helped children in China? Well it’s true.  The truth is that the Lord leads each of us if we only give Him the chance and Suzann Fenton, a teacher in CAP’s Parents Are Teachers program is the living proof.
Suzann joined CAP more than 20 years ago and has worked in CAP’s Parents Are Teachers (PAT) program for almost all of that time.  PAT specializes in early intervention for children with special needs or whose development is likely to be delayed. 
Suzann explained:  “Early intervention is learning to Play with a Purpose.  That’s the whole thing; playing with a purpose.  Give me any toy or anything and I can assess all five domains in any child: I can tell you exactly what I’m doing – how I’m stimulating in all five domains:  the cognitive – problem solving or thinking; language – both receptive and expressive; motor skills– both fine and gross; social / emotional abilities– how a child interacts with others, and the child’s adaptive or self help skills.  Give me any toy and I can tell you how to stimulate in all five domains.”
The PAT program both identifies special needs and develops appropriate response programs for the child.  However, as the name implies, the program empowers and encourages parents to work with their children to maximize each child’s abilities.
Several years ago, Suzann felt a calling to do more for others.  She approached some friends who are active in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) and expressed an interest to volunteer her services.  Then the Lord took over. 
A woman in China had recently opened a school for children suffering from cerebral palsy.  It is called Angel House.  The group was looking for assistance from someone with skills in physical rehabilitation.  Through the CBF, link was made back to Suzann and soon she was off to China, at her own expense and on her own time, to see how she might help. 
Suzann’s first trip revealed both the challenges and the opportunities for Angel House to expand and improve their services.  Suzann was able to demonstrate to the Angel House leadership that children with cerebral palsy require much more than just physical therapy.  Over four successive trips to China, the most recent of which was last fall, Suzann has calmly, patiently and effectively assisted the Chinese in adopting CAP’s Parents Are teachers program for their own use.  In fact, they have even requested and received permission from CAP to adopt the PAT name for their own program.

In following the Lord’s call, Suzann has helped the managers and leaders of Angel House learn many things, including; how to conduct home visits and assessments, how to keep proper records on each case, how to develop comprehensive and effective treatment programs for each child and how to educate parents about their primary role as teachers for their children.