"My 13-year old niece was born with Spina Bifida (paralysed from the waist down) and recently had a back operation. Since the operation, she has been constrained to mainly lying flat on her stomach. Due to her being confined at home, she spent most of her days watching television programmes. During a recent trip to Malaysia, I helped her to create a timetable template and encouraged her to plan for her daily activities to alleviate boredom and to stimulate her mind. I believe that this will improve her quality of life and learning abilities. It will also help her to adjust back to a normal life when her operation wound is fully healed. Reluctant and upset at first, she quickly recovered and started filling up the hourly slots with activities ? study, piano, story book, drawing, etc. What amazed me was that on the following day: without any prompting, she switched off the TV at 9am and started with the first activity on the timetable! This continued until the end of the first day, the second day, the third day - 3 weeks later, she is still following the routine & even mentioned that she ""kind-of"" enjoyed it! A little thought, a little time and a little encouragement goes a long way ? not only for her but the experience has been a great encouragement for me. I am proud of her!"