One of the PollyMovies Created in Rivne

After the conference I was scheduled to train 5 teams of specialists from 3 different Oblasts (similiar to US states),--- from the Oblasts' Omni Birth Defects Center (where families come for diagnosis and early support) and from their Pahinets Center (early intervention centers). Each team was to work with me for half of a day and to bring along a family willing to be the 'focus' of our production of a brief PollyMovie.
The teams were incredible! These women were devoted, talented, willing and extremely motivated to engage in learning a new and creative intervention to use with children and families.
The half-day sessions however were also very challenging due to the extra time needed for language translation (Mariya was superb!), the time needed within the 3 hours to teach the editing process...and the unfamiliar setting (and attention) for each young child we worked with...but persevere we did ! & with great enthusiasm.
Auro had very recently been diagnosed with autism & his parents were trying to learn many things about helping him move forward. This brief PollyMovie for Euro & his parents focused on their desire for Auro to interact with his father (TaTa) who often is away from home working. Auro had developed an unwillingness or disinterest in talking to TaTa on the cell phone and was not very interactive with TaTa when he returned from a work trip.
We role played Auro noticing when the cell phone rang, talking to MaMa on the cell phone, then talking to TaTa on the cell phone...and waiting for TaTa to come through the door (with a new game as a 'gift')...and running to see him. Auro's parents said that what we captured on film was a miracle.
Note that the camera work is far from perfect, but I believe we did capture Auro's family's vision of success...Auro interacting with his father in a loving and connected way!

Kiev on Sunday afternoon

The nine of us were able to 'sleep in' to 8 am today & joined our 3 translators: Zhenya, Olenka & Oleg at their church. Afterwards we piled once more into multiple cabs and headed to St. Andrew's street....large, uneven cobblestones pave the downhill street past St. Andrew's church (built recently in the 1700's)...with street vendors selling traditional Ukrainian crafts and artwork. It was much cooler today with a slight breeze which helped with the long walk. There was Russian-Ukranian war memorabilia, Matrushkas (stacking dolls), embrodiered linen and cotton blouses, ....and then we came across a gentleman who had an antique, wind-up phonograph player. He was playing an opera in Russian or Ukrainian that made folks want to cry...what emotion!
Here's one parting shot of my room-mate, Dianne Koontz Lowman & I....what a wonderfully fun adventure we've had.
There's much more to share...and I'll be now in the reflection-remembering mode for posts...as I'm off to Frankfurt early tomorrow morning.

The BabyHouse Orphanage

A most profound experience...I will never forget. The BabyHouse cares for approximately 125 children which are all under 4. The facility was on beautiful grounds with flowers, a garden and green house. There is an inside pool, which was very similar to a tiled trough, where we saw a half a dozen children swimming around with floating toys. There was a medical area and they use aromatherapy type interventions to help with things like asthma, coughing and calming. The children were well cared for by men and women who truly were affectionate and very kind. The children eat 6 meals a day, including a small cup of coffee in the afternoon. Children were divided by age...with one area for children with disabilities. I was really holding back tears through the entire tour...for many reasons...and I know this is the very best facility in the country. Imagine.

Becky loves Auro

Today (Thursday) I will be working with my last of 5 families, thus 5th PollyMovie...all of them amazing stories! I'll just quickly share this story of Auro (sounds like Euro). He was diagnosed with autism about three weeks ago and completely enchanted me within minutes. His parents had come in from the countryside (as I understood it) and stayed in a hotel to attend the 3 days of the conference and asked to be one of the families who would "receive this things called a PollyMovie please."
His papa travels for work and Auro does not want to talk to him when he calls on the phone and also often will not pay a lot of attention to papa when he returns home. Auro's PollyMovie focused on him talking on mama's cell phone and running to papa when papa came in the room...they then play with a toy fishing pole and tiny fish with magnets in their mouths (Naomi are you thinking what I'm thinking?).....the PollyMovie edited beautifully and I'll be sure to post it online at the website for sure. Off to shower for the millionth time this week. Suppose to be in the low nineties with thunderstorms through the day..which means humidity at 90-100% yippee!

Blogging in the middle of the night

It seems that every day I've been here that my mind and body can't really sleep through the night completely...it's a combination of ninety+ degree weather and an experience too full to share at one sitting at the trusty laptop. Since my mind is there, let me jump back to Monday morning my time here in Rivne: Specialists and parents from three oblasts (similar to US states) are particpating in our efforts and interventions while the USNOF team is here. To my knowledge each oblast has their own Omni Center, which is a diagnostic center of various medical needs, one service is the early detection of birth defects and disability. Each oblast (again to the best of my knowledge) has one Pahinets, which is similar to a day-school-center for young children who experience a disability. And even though the summer months are part of the holiday season, we had about 40-45 people attend the first day of our educational conference. The Omni Center is pictured above. The two administrators from the Rivne Omni Center & Rivne Pahinets greeted the conference participants and welcomed us. Between the 4 of us presenting, and over the three days this week topics covered were: early literacy, PECS, developing language through play and relationship, indicators and strategies for working with children with autism & video self modeling. What a blast! You really haven't lived until you've shared yourself with people from other cultures and languages. It was really a thrill to see my writing and thoughts in Ukrainian and to respond to insightful questions from parents & specialists. I'm completely stretched and expanded. A couple of my favorite questions were: Can you make a PollyMovie for a child who is deaf? Can I make a PollyMovie for myself? As I fanned myself in the heat of the room, I assured everyone that they were invited to visit me in Alaska, anytime.

A most interesting lunch

Jason had invited me to join a number of the other team members to meet Sunday with a mother whom they had met several years ago, Lena (my spelling of her name). Lena was in Rivne for her one month vacation of the year to visit her sons and parents, one son Nikita (17) was the subject of our conversation and meeting. Lena works as a house cleaner in Prague and travels back and forth by bus--a mere 24 hour ride. This evidently was her second contact with USNOF seeking help for Nikita, who experiences Downs Syndrome and has never received school or intervention support and lives with his grandparents.
Left to right: Dave, Rob, Becky, Lena, Kelly, Jenny, Zhenya, Jason
Kelly and I both are special educators and took a bit of an early lead in the conversation to inquire (with Zhenya's assistance) about Nikita's challenges, strengths and interests. Lena shared some amazing details of his life. When we asked, "What does Nikita really like to do?" Lena responded, "He loves to iron!" For Kelly and I this was a landmine of ideas of how to assist him in building independence, daily purpose, language development...and who knows, perhaps even some income. Moving to the 'how' to provide assistance was an eye-opener. There are few infrastructure resources of people and facilities to work directly with Nikita...especially because he is an adult. This story pauses here, because Jason and Zhenya will be working on contacting resources they know locally. Lena will make sure that Nikita and his grandparents will make it into town on Wednesday afternoon to meet with Kelly, myself and Jackie (our SLP member!) for an informal observation and conversation. Perhaps we'll be able to find some velcro between now and then to at least help to create a visual schedule for the home...ideas and thoughts are plentiful! While the Ukrainian culture may not welcome Nikita, we will welcome him & help when and where we can.

Kiev to Rivne...

Two flights took myself and 4 other women (and about 10 large bags + one wheelchair) from Washington, DC through Munich, on to Kiev, Ukraine...we arrived in fairly good shape Friday at about 6 pm local time. (A total of about 14 hours of continuous travel, and 11 hours time difference from home in Alaska.) This photo on the right was taken from my hotel window at about 8:30 pm Friday evening. Because the temperature was at least 90 F. and without airconditioning, I left the window open all night. Kiev is very alive day and night! I could see this titanium statue far in the distance beautifully lit at night, "Mother Motherland" honors 12,000+ heroes of the Soviet Union during WWII.
7 am Saturday morning two interpreters joined us on a 5 hour bus ride (you guessed: no air-conditioning!) from Kiev to Rivne. Road conditions were variable and driving skills dramatic yet superb (gasp)...and besides the acres and acres of sunflowers my favorite memory will be seeing at least a dozen stork nests...set firmly atop poles and roof structures. Almost all of them were occupied with a growing family of storks. These white storks range from 40-50" tall, with a wingspan of about 80". Ukrainian and Polish folks believe that a storks nest brings harmony to the family on whose property they rest. I believe the storks were a good sign for the work ahead this week.