We’re a group of 11 speech-language pathologists and one occupational therapist from the scenic hamlet of Portland, OR who are traveling to Mostar, Bosnia in the Summer of 2011 with the goal of helping children with autism spectrum disorder and their families. When we’re stateside, we all work as contractors in the public schools for the Hello Foundation.
It is part of the mission of our organization to “dream big,” and this trip to Bosnia is the latest project of our Philanthropy division. We’re mothers, coaches, gardeners, runners, entrepreneurs, bosses, photographers, and a million other things. We are woven together by our devotion to our craft and our dedication to helping children and families access the world that lay before them.
We have two goals for this trip:
1. Our team will collaborate with University of Tuzla students who typically have limited to no opportunity to access practical training with specialists. University students are interested in collaborating with us for the experience and will also function as our translators. We will be modeling intervention that will touch every child these specialists work with in the future.
2. We have been invited by families with children with autism to come into
their homes and provide direction and assistance to teach communication skills and strategies. Most, if not all, of these families have had no support or guidance to teach their children basic life skills. We know these families will act as advocates and teach other mothers and fathers how they can support their own children.
You can find out a little bit more about who we are as individuals by clicking on the links below. And if you share our vision and think you might like to help us on our way, please consider checking out our support and wish list pages. Hvala.
Kelly Bawden, CCC-SLP
Lucinda Bowman, CCC-SLP
Sara Ecker, CCC-SLP
Wendy Gunter, CCC-SLP
Traci Levay, CCC-SLP
Lee Moser, CCC-SLP
Gina Ossanna, CCC-SLP
Sharon Soliday, CCC-SLP
Sharon Scheurer, CCC-SLP
Brooke Unwin, CCC-SLP
Debbie Welch, OT
Kira Wright, CCC-SLP
