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KEISHA (8/91) has sparkling brown eyes and dark, curly hair. Her appearance favors her African American roots more than her Hawaiian heritage, and she is most familiar with the African American community. While she dresses like a typical preteen, she has developmental delays, and her emotional, social, and behavioral development are that of a four or five year old child. Her cognitive skills are delayed, too. Keisha loves fashion and dreams of being a fashio consultant when she grows up.

Keisha can be responsive to adult prompting and to self-soothing behaviors. She enjoys many activities, such as swimming and especially shopping and going to the mall. In her therapeutic group home, her care givers have discovered that use of her favorite activities as rewards increase her cooperative behavior and motivate her to follow house rules. Keisha has begun to show some mild improvement in her ability to control her sometimes aggressive impulses.

While in the past, Keisha strongly preferred to be with adults rather than with peers, over the past few months, she has begun to want to have friends over to visit and is motivated to try to improve her behavior at school and in her therapeutic group home so that she can earn that privilege. Keisha continues to work on her social skills in her group home.

Although little birth information is known about Keisha, it is likely that she was exposed to alcohol in utero. Keisha came into care several years ago.

The ideal family for Keisha would be a family with a strong grasp of issues related to mood disorders and severe learning disabilities. Her family should also be able to work closely with treatment and educational professionals. She will do best in a highly structured home where she could have teenage siblings, especially sisters, or where she could be an only child.

Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.

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