INTERNATIONAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER “They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel” Carol Buchner
Upon completion of a four week intensive training in Applied Behavior Analysis, ICare4Autism bids farewell to our Armenian guests, Narine Vardanyan, Director and Marine Yengoyan, Master Teacher of The International Child Development Center of Armenia (ICDC).
In 2014, Ms. Vardanyan attended The ICare4Autism International Autism Conference in New York City. For Ms. Vardanyan, this conference was transformative. In addition to professional training, the conference provided her the opportunity to develop relationships and establish new supports systems with leading industry professionals. Delving into this new network, Ms. Vardanyan approached Dr. Weinstein and inquired about Shema Kolainu – Hear Our Voices School and Center for Children with Autism.
The model school concept interested Ms. Vardanyan and led to her visiting Shema Kolainu where she met the entire staff. A year later, in mid July, we welcomed Ms. Vardanyan and Ms. Yengoyan for a full month of extensive training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
The appreciative colleagues recall their month with Shema Kolainu. They express gratitude in learning these new methods, recognizing how impactful this training and knowledge will be for them upon their return to The International Child Development Center.
“Thank you so very much, your professionalism, your teachers, the way your teachers run their classes, the communication, all excellent! You really have an amazing model school here. Thank you very much for this training opportunity.” Ms. Vardanyan expresses of her time here at Shema Kolainu.
The International Child Development Center of Armenia serves 110 children, teens, and adults between ages of 1 and 20. The center is important because it serves as an oasis of sorts for children and young adults on the spectrum, in an area where state of the art treatment is limited. Employing these new assessment tools will be ground breaking in their Armenian community.
As the number of children with autism continues to increase in Armenia, Ms. Vardanyan and Ms. Yengoyan realize the importance of this training. The teachers understand the value in being hands on while learning new techniques. The Shema Kolainu teachers were welcoming and willing to answer any of the questions that arose throughout the month.
“This environment is so great, being able to see everything with your own eyes, it becomes so much easier to understand the concepts.” Ms. Yengoyan shares.
Ms. Vardanyan and Ms. Yengoyan are eager to return home and look forward to continuing this promising collaboration with ICare4Autism. Our guests kindly thank the teachers and staff and extend a warm thank you to Educational Director Gili Rechany, IEP Coordinator Chani Katz, and Shema Kolainu President Dr. Joshua Weinstein for the support they have provided though the ICare4Autism partnership.
