When the time came for Milena Makaveeva to apply to university, she applied simultaneously to the National Sports Academy, and to Sofia University (SU), and she was accepted by both. "To everybody's surprise, including myself, I chose to study defectology (abnormal psychology and learning disability) at SU," Milena says with a smile. At present, 24-year-old Milena has a B.A. in Pedagogy for Children with Neuromuscular Diseases, and is near to completing her M.A. in logopedics (the treatment of children's speech defects).

Her decision was surprising, because "I have always known that I would study and work in something, connected with sports," the pretty petite blonde said. "It runs in the family". Both her parents are coaches: her father - in wrestling, her mother - in swimming. Milena herself was a swimmer, but even though she has been a Republican Champion in 1996 with the CSKA youth team, she doesn't regards her achievements in the area very highly. Now she swims only occasionally and only for fun. "I am not sorry I chose what I do, over a career in sports," Milena concludes.

The smiling young woman is a logopedist at the Specialised Hospital For Residential Treatment Of Prolonged Therapy And Rehabilitation Of Children With Cerebral Palsy. She first came to the hospital as a volunteer in the spring of 2001, when she had not yet finished her studies in logopedics. At the time, there was a programme to encourage people, who were not from the hospital's personnel, to give logopedic assistance to the older children. In the autumn, a couple of logopedists took maternal and sick leaves, and Milena, who was just finishing her B.A. studies, was appointed on a temporary basis; now she is a full-time member of the hospital's team.

Milena works with children from the earliest age, from a one month old baby to 18 years old young adults. "It is impossible to isolate my job from that of the team I work in," she says. Besides her, the micro team includes a psychologist and special pedagogues; they work with children with cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders to help them lead as normal a life as possible trough active influence on their locomotory, speaking, mental and learning skills. The large hospital team also includes the doctors, the physical therapists, and the rehabilitators.

"The best aspect of our work is its complexity," Milena says. "The fact that a number of specialists work with a child, and provide a variety of points of view on their state and the necessary therapy, creates a much greater chance for success."

A child at the hospital may be able to speak, but not move; may not talk, but understand everything; may chatter all the time, but not understand what they are saying. "We try to find the best way to stimulate their development, and to do that we try various strategies," Milena says. "We ourselves are learning constantly, because the processes taking place in the human brain are unpredictable".

Initially, together with a psychologist, Milena examines a child thoroughly to determine their state and any particular problems they experience. Then in the micro team, their condition is discussed, and decisions are taken as to whether the child needs therapy, what kind, how much time the team has - for example the younger the child, the greater the chances for improvement.

Next, Milena plans what she wants to accomplish as a logopedist with the child, selects tools such as toys and drawings, and starts working with them. For example, she may teach them action words, or tell stories about the pictures in a book, and ask about them. Alternatively, if the child is more active, she only gives direction, and lets the child do the speaking. At the end, there is always a reward: a loved toy or another book with drawings. "The reward and the play time are extremely important - thanks to them, children return very willingly to the next session," she says. "My kids usually like me - because we usually have fun together," Milena says, "and I love them all".

The logopedic therapy Milena applies to babies includes physical speech stimulating procedures, like thermo-applications to specific muscles, and cryotherapy and vibrations on bio-active facial points. The worse cases have problems with feeding as well, and Milena applies feeding therapy. "In this way I help the child to eat properly, and the parents to feed the child more easily," she explains. To improve the feeding process she works to control the swallowing, chewing and biting, as well as the acceptance of different kinds of food.

In cases of older children, Milena examines and follows closely two major areas. The first is their speech development. She focuses on what level of speech development they have, and whether the child has any type of impairment. In some case they may be very little speech development. "When a child has cerebral palsy, speech is usually impaired, because it is a motive activity, and a very delicate one, because it requires very fine coordination," Milena explains. The second area is the child's language competence, or to what extent the child's language capacities correspond to their age.

Every day Milena travels an hour and a half from her home in Pancharevo to her job. Her work day starts at 7.30 am and consists of nine therapeutic sessions with a 10-minute break after each session before it ends at four pm. The cases that present themselves to the hospital are sometimes depressing and scary. "There are two things which can hold a young person here: a love for children, and the hospital's team," Milena says.

"We are very close, and we support each other, I don't even realise that the job is emotionally distressing. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with emotion, but it's only because I'm quite an emotional person, and not because the job is that difficult. But, if I didn't work with these supportive people, I wouldn't be able to handle it as well."