As you will note with three postings in a row, I just made it down to the internet cafe to post.  Hopefully, you are now caught up on the autism conference.

Meeting with University Teachers

After the conference today, Olga, Galina and I met with faculty from the various colleges and universities in the region.  It was a  good turn out — I believe we had 14 folks in attendance.  There were people from psychology, education, and physical therapy (although they have a different term) there.  After enjoying chi, strawberries, crepes, and introductions, there was a lively discussion about needs around preparing students to work with children with autism.  There were many ideas around continuing education, accessing new materials, finding places for students to do field experiences, cooperation, conferences, and distance education.  I was even reminded that I need to learn to do Skype (probably misspelled — but then I still have a VCR!).   One of the professors and I are going to try to do a joint class lecture in the fall using distance technology to see how it works.  We are also going to explore possible grant funding — that is the issue with including Ukrainian students in our online courses — the tuition is out of reach.  It is interesting how things work — earlier I received an email from an OT student in Australia who was looking for a contact in Ukraine for some field experiences.  I gave that email to the Dean of the physical therapy department who will follow up (unfortunately there is no occupational therapy in Rivne).  It was a good meeting.  I’m off now to go to a concert.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  Dianne   PS Did I mention we are staying in a fabulous hotel!

Well, we just finished the second day of the autism conference, and I am pleased.  Olga Bogdashina, a visiting professor from England who founded a day school in eastern Ukraine for children with autism, was our speaker.  Olga was wonderful!  She provided a comprehensive overview of  autism, which meshed nicely with Kelly’s overview from yesterday.  It is interesting to see how some of the termology is different.  When she was highlighting the main areas impacted by autism, she talked about social, communication, and imagination.  But when she started talking about delays in imagination, the behaviors were the same — just different terms.  She also provided a list of alternative therapies and it was the same list we would use in our country.  Personally, I was pleased with structured teaching is popular world wide.  We then had another wonderful lunch — we just ordered less so I don’t need to nap!  In the afternoon, Olga began a discussion of sensory issues related to autism — very interesting and of course, one of my favorite topics.  Two years ago, when I tried to introduce sensory processing in relationship with feeding problems, it was not well received.  Determined, I tried again last year, providing more information about the brain and CNS — more interest in the topic.  Olga said that they were primed for her lecture this year, because folks really were receptive.  Olga will continue this discussion tomorrow and move into Communication.  She is an amazing person.  I love her life journey and her passion for autism and Ukraine.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.  Dianne

Yesterday, we opened the autism conference at the Omni Center in Rivne.  I didn’t count but there were over 60 participants in attendance — psychologists, teachers, therapists, parents.  Before the conference, Lubov greeted us with chi (tea) and cookies — the Ukrainian folks are so gracious.  The conference was opened with a greeting from the Medical Director of the Center as well as the Deputy Head of the Education Department of the City of Rivne.  I remember that this conference always starts out fairly formal. I gave an overview of the week, using my wonderful grand children as our guides through the topics of the week — sensory, behavior, and communication.  Kelly then provided an overview of autism as well as a detailed description of proactive strategies such as structuring the room and using visual supports.  When she showed a detail of a classroom and asked what was wrong, folks did a nice job of pointing out the problem areas.  They seemed to really like seeing the photographs of actual visual supports.  Kelly had lots of pictures of the supports used in her classroom.  After a full Ukrainian lunch (can I nap now), Galina gave an overvview of the Early Literacy Skills Builder curriculum, using the puppet “Mo.”  It was fun to see Mo giving participants a “high five” for a good answer.  Galina has spent many hours translating the materials and folks seemed pleased to be getting that translated.  All in all, it was a very smooth start to the conference.  I was excited about the rest of the week.  Dianne

We had a tremendously successful first day!  In my four years here, this was hands down the best and smoothest first day we’ve ever had. And across teams too. This is surprising because today is their Constitution Day. It’s a national holiday. Most people do not have to work and we were worried that things would not go well, or that we’d have poor participation. This was not the case at all. At the conference we had over sixty people show up. Teachers, parents, psychologists, and doctors.

The head doctor at the OMNI center and the director of special education opened the conference this morning with opening remarks followed by Dianne who introduced all of us and what we were going to talk about this week. Then I was on. I wasn’t feeling so much nervous as ill-prepared, however, there was nothing for me to worry about (which I knew) because it went very well. I was very comfortable speaking and the pause for translation allowed me enough time to review my notes and prepare. After my lecture, a couple came to me with pictures of their 3 year old son. There seems to be some discrepancies in his diagnosis, but it sounds like he does have autism. As soon as the mother opened her mouth to speak she broke down in tears. They are having a hard time getting help and they were desperate to know what to do. We’ve exchanged emails and Zhenya, one of our interpreteres and employee of USNOF year round, has agreed to translate our emails.  They will also bring their son to the conference tomorrow afternoon so that I, and Olga, the keynote speaker, can consult with them and observe their son.

After lunch, Galina introduced an early literacy curriculum. Galina is from Ukraine and now works as a research assistant at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte under Diane Browder who accompanied us on the trip a couple years ago and is the author of the early literacy curriculum.  Her lecture was fantastic. She really got the audience involved. I think they’re getting used to our “American” ways because normally they look at us funny when we try to be interactive. Typically they’re lectured at and don’t like to be actively involved in the presentation. There was a lot of giggling at first, but they eventually got into it. I think the fact that she’s Ukrainian and spoke to them in their own language helped put them at ease.  Galina spent a lot of time translating the curriculum into Ukrainian and has left each participant with a CD of the curriculum along with two sets in English.

Tomorrow Olga will talk more in depth on autism. I have a chance to visit Pahinets, the early intervention center in Rivne, and observe the school while it’s still in session. Tomorrow is the last day of school before the summer vacation.  Then I’ll return to the conference in the afternoon for consultations.

Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words of support and encouragement.

Love, Kelly

Kelly and I just came back from a meeting with Lubov (the Director of the Omni Center) and Tamera (the Director of Pahinets) about the conference this week.  The schedule and specifics have been ironed out and we are ready to go. They seem pleased with the topics and the materials we have brought.  Tomorrow, I will give a short introduction and Kelly will provide an overview of autism.  She has lots of great slides of visuals — I believe the folks here will like to see those pictures.  Then, in the afternoon, Galina Fedun from UNC Charlotte will provide an overview of the Early Literacy Skills Builder curriculum.   Galina has translated this curriculum — what a feat!  Go to http://education.uncc.edu/access/RAISEProject.htm and check out the description in Ukrainian.  Time to go to get some sleep.  Please excuse my spelling — or mispellings as I am too tired to look up the correct spellings!  Dianne