Help autistic orphans in Romania get an education

FRIENDSHIP! 

Friends to play with... learn with... share birthdays...help complete a puzzle or build a lego castle... 
For many of our kids at Delia's Learning Center, this is the first time they have had a friend their own age.

Can you imagine being 8 years old or 11 years old and due to being autistic you are rejected from attending school? No opportunity to learn how to buld relationships with peers?  Never knowing the simple joy of having a birthday cake placed in front of you while your friends sing and clap for you?

Our psychologist Lidia, and both of our other teachers gently guide children to appropriate socialization. When we re-opened our Center, we slowly got the children acclimated again. AND WOW!  What words are there to express when we see a child who rarely has smiled, beaming to have her friends celebrate her birthday? Or one day we observe that a child whose autism and lack of socialization has kept him in his "shell," is all of a sudden engaged in a learning game with another child. 

Well, there are no words... so with this update we are sharing many photos so you can see for yourself! During this difficult year, we have all experienced isolation from friends. Perhaps it will give you a little boost to know that by supporting The Delia Foundation you have helped some very special children eliminate the barriers that have isolated them.  

We wish you good health in the months ahead. Please reach out to myself, Laura Larkin or David Conway if you would like to know more about our work.

All Best,

Lauren Fishbach, U.S. Board President

NOTE: Our team always wears masks and we follow all hygiene and sanitization practices as mandated by the Romanian government. (We have just sent them special masks with a piece of plastic over the mouth area so that children can see facial expressions -- which is critical for communication with children for have special needs.) Per the law, temperatures are taken daily for everyone entering the Center. Our children with more significant medical needs have not yet returned to the Center.

While Covid-19’s impact has challenged us, it also has brought us closer to the community we serve. It has inspired our team in Romania, the U.S. and UK to find creative ways to provide support to the children who attend our day program and their foster parents/parents. Our staff has communicated through individual Facetime and phone call “sessions” to interact with the kids, provide instruction on activities and “check in”. As many of our kids have medical issues, we want to help if assistance is needed. With the warmer weather, we have met children in local parks or outside at their homes.  

Some of our families live in the villages and do not have running water. We were concerned as this makes hygiene more difficult when we are instructed to wash our hands to prevent the spread of the virus. We were also concerned about food insecurity and, in fact, assisted our partner Good News for Romania, by purchasing and delivering emergency food just as the country was being locked down.

While in many ways daily life has seemed at a stand still these past few months, our Autism Program has taken a step forward!  One of our teachers, Gabriela, completed her introductory course in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), hosted by Autism Voice Romania and accredited by the Romanian College of Psychologists. We were excited that the course was still being taught and it was delivered in a live, on-line format for three days in April and three days in May. Gabriela has told us that the class introduced her to communication techniques and methods of working with autistic children that she knows will be life changing. She can’t wait to get back into the classroom to implement new ideas and share her knowledge with other staff.  Our psychologist, Lidia, will be attending the ABA course the next time it is given. In March, Lidia completed her Masters degree in Psychology and Educational Services (which encompasses primary education and instructing people with special needs). 

Prior to Covid-19, we had planned for all three of our full-time staff to be trained in the Picture Exchange System, a common tool used to help children with autism communicate. Our research led us to a consulting firm in Bucharest (5 hours by train) that offers both group workshop training and private instruction. We were hoping to have sent our team to Bucharest this summer for initial training but, of course, there are no workshops.

As always we are grateful for your support, which has enabled us to offer our services to children in need, free of charge.  We look forward to providing updates on the autism program but please reach out if you would like more information. On a separate note, we have changed the name of our Center to Delia’s Friends Learning Center in order to clearly state that we offer a program focused on learning and to better coincide with the name of our Romanian NGO and foundations in the US and UK.

We wish you and your family good health.

All best,

Laura Larkin, CEO, The Delia Foundation

Lauren Fishbach, U.S. Board President, Delia’s Friends Learning Center

David Conway, Trustee, Delia's Friends UK

Oana-Elana Codreanu, President, NGO Fundatia Delia Barlad 

Links:

• Get the latest news: The Delia Foundation's US Facebook Page!