What a wonderfully exciting day! This morning’s events are rather dull to report (except for my cappucino and chocolate croissant) because I spent the morning finalizing my powerpoint presentation for tomorrow, but the afternoon was filled with great opportunities. It’s a shame I can’t stay here to teach for a little while because I always get so riled up and passionate when I’m here. (More than usual anyway).

The head pediatrician at the OMNI center has become more involved this year. He really wanted to sit down with all of us to talk more about what they do there, how USNOF can continue to support them, and to give us a tour of the facility. I’ve mentioned before that the OMNI center houses the American-Ukrainian Birth Defects Prevention Program. Out of this program rose the intense interest and evident need for early intervention, and the eventual creation of Pahinets. It’s a lot easier for them to identify certain disorders such as Downs Syndrome because of the obvious facial features associated with it. They’ve also become increasingly better at diagnosing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. However, they have immense difficulty recognizing and diagnosing more subtle developmental disorders such as Autism. Part of this comes from lack of awareness, training, and diagnostic tools, but although 75% of the efforts of the OMNI center are spent on diagnostics, it’s all done by neurologists, genetecists, and pediatricians. No one on the staff specializes in child development or education. They’re able to provide medical and genetic support, but that help only goes so far. Children who visit their center with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Autism, and other related disorders receive little help, or treatment, from their facility.

The staff at the OMNI center has started to brainstorm the next step. They want to start a child development center that would include a whole team of specialists, which would focus on studying developmental disorders, diagnosing them, and then treating them. Currently, children with developmental disorders are sent to the regular schools, but due to behavior, etc. the teachers don’t know what to do with them and in some cases the parents abandon them. Since special education as we know it is not yet apart of the Ukrainian school system, the OMNI center has taken it upon itself to basically start special education. They would be the ones diagnosing children and creating an individual work plan for each child. They wouldn’t work with the child five times a week, but they do want to provide services and trainings for the parents. It’s at least a start. My hope would be that as their knowledge, experience, and methodologies improve and expand that they would eventually transfer these services to the schools.

If we’re interested, the OMNI center would love to partner with us on this project. Of course, the only thing we know that this entails is money! We’re not entirely sure of the specifics or other expectations. Jason is going to meet with the Directors again tomorrow and learne more about what they want/expect from us. It’s a baby step, but I consider this to be a HUGE baby step, especially in the right direction. I pray that God’s will be done in this situation, and that He clarifies how we may assist these people. This seems to be a tremendous opportunity. I always get so excited so I’m trying to step back and be patient and wait for guidance.

The other good piece of news is that Lubov also joined Tamara in the meeting regarding another center in Rivne for children with special needs. She was able to give us a quick update this afternoon. Who knows how quickly this will happen, but the local government realizes the intensity of raising children with severe disabilities and wants to extend coverage until the age of 18. The down side is that it would only be for children with severe disabilities–children they’ve deemed to be UNteachable. There would be some care and therapy provided, but little else. It’s not a lot, and I may not agree with all of it, but at least it’s another step in kind of the right direction. Now we just need special education for the rest of the children until the age of 18. Patience. It’s a virtue right?

Dianne and I have spent most of the evening preparing for our presentation tomorrow. I think it should go well and we’re both hoping the afternoon session of creating visuals will be both helpful and successful. I thought we had around 60 people on Monday. Well, Dianne counted over 75 today, which means on Monday that we had over 100 people present. It’s been real exciting.

I should have one more report for you tomorrow and then we’ll start to prepare to make our way home. Thanks again for your prayers and support. It means a lot and it’s definitely felt and appreciated.