By Lauren Fishbach | U.S. Board President, Delia's Learning Center
How does an almost 7- year old child whose native language is Romanian, teach herself to read fluently in English and is now working on acquiring Japanese and Russian? And, by the way, she taught herself to read in Romanian as she does not yet go to school.
We almost wouldn't have believed it, if we hadn't met "A" ourselves! And YES, you read that correctly... I got to meet "A" myself.... in person !! Delia Foundation CEO Laura Larkin and I were finally able to travel back to Romania, having gotten permission from the Romanian Consulate as a humanitarian aide organization. In June, we spent two weeks in Barlad and the surrounding villages that we serve, spending time with "our" kids and foster families. We got to give hugs to the special children living at the orphanage and meet with the orphanage director to start new plans in helping her build out an indoor/outdoor play space for the kids. Laura and I also got to deliver food to and check on some of the families who receive emergency meal supplies through our organization.
The highlight of our visits is always getting to know the children who attend Delia's Learning Center. We are continually amazed by them and how much progress they make with the loving, careful guidance of our team of psychologist, teachers, and new speech therapist. "A" astounded us with her potential. Her unique abilities have been directed so that in the fall she is now able to attend school, while still receiving support from our staff.
Diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum, "A" had a good deal of behavioral issues when she came to us and did not understand how to properly socialize with other children, other than her younger brother. Our teachers soon realized that her keen intellect and inquiring mind had no outlet or focus. Little by little, with a lot of 1:1 attention, "A" has begun to learn how to interact more positively with others.
Still wondering how "A" taught herself to read and speak other languages? When asked, she says "tv, the tablet."
There is no explanation other than that her beautiful mind works differently than others! We are thankful to be able to embrace "A"'s differences and help her and our other kids with autism to grow according to their needs.
Special Note: While in Barlad, a well-known journalist from the region's most respected newspaper came to interview us and learn about Delia's Learning Center. The link to the article is below and will open in English if you copy the link into Google Chrome! Please read!
Wishing everyone a beautiful summer on behalf of myself and co-founders Laura Larkin and David Conway.
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