Ambassador of China, H.E Mrs.. Jiang Yu visited the Autism Center

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Ambassador of China, H.E Mrs.. Jiang Yu visited the Autism Center


The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, H.E Mrs.. Jiang Yu with an invitation of the Albanian Children Foundation visited on the eve of holidays the Regional Center for Autism in Farka and joined the party organized with the children.

The Chinese Ambassador was introduced with therapeutic facilities, working methods used and current achievements with autistic children by Dr. Liri Berisha- the president of Albanian Children Foundation and scientific director Dr. Ariel Como.. Dr. Liri Berisha expressed deep gratitude to the Chinese Ambassador and highly appreciated the visit and its personal attention to the phenomenon of autism.

“I appreciate your coming in Albania. Your visit here is an appreciation for the center. You accepted our invitation immediately and it is impressive to us because it shows your interest as a woman towards problems of children and their parents. Your representative as the Ambassador of such a big and developed country like China, shows about the importance given to this disorder today. ”

The Ambassador expressed gratitude for the reviving hope to families of children with autism spectrum disorder. “I am very touched by what I see here.This shows that you have worked hard to bring hope to these people who have lost it.. Here I see happy children who are not distinguished from other normal children, and it shows that you are on the right track. ”

H.E Mrs. Ambassador. Jiang Yu, brought some gifts for kids meantime Dr. Liri Berisha between exchanges of gifts gave to the Ambassador as a recognition of a painting made by Sara.

Dr.Liri Berisha,Global Autism Achievement Award.

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Dr. Liri Berisha, president of Albanian Children Foundation is awarded by the International organization “Autism Speaks” in New York with the Second Annual Bob and Suzanne Wright Global Autism Achievement Award.

Dr. Liri Berisha, president of Albania Children Foundation is awarded by the International organization “Autism Speaks” in New York with the Second Annual Bob and Suzanne Wright Global Autism Achievement Award.This award that was presented to Ms. Berisha during the Seventh Annual World Focus on Autism meeting that is taking place alongside the United

Nation General Assembly meeting in New York City comes as a recognition of:

– Dr. Liri Berisha remarkable leadership in autism community, for raising public and professional awareness of autism in Albania;

– establishing a state-of-the-art clinicalcenter for services, training and research in Tirana;

– supporting the launch of Southeast European Autism Network of ministries of health from regional countries;

– participating in UN and World Health Organization technical consultations as well.

This award was personally presented to Dr. Liri Berisha by the cofounders

of the international organization “Autism Speaks”, Bob and Suzanne Wright, in the presence of many first spouses from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, who have been inspired by Dr. Liri Berisha leadership and commitment.

Ms. Wright said: “Dr.Liri Berisha is a unique combination of a visionary and a fighter. I knew, from he first moment we met at the Shafallah Forum in Qatar way back in 2008 that she would change the world. She has changed the future for people with autism in Albania and now she is working on the entire region. Ladies and gentlemen please join me and giving a warm applause to my girlfriend Liri.”

Dr. Liri Berisha, being very honored by this award, said:

“Dear Suzanne and Bob, this those who are challenged by autism in the world. As a mother, pediatrician and the president of the Albanian Children Foundation, I cannot think of a better recognition for the hard work and achievements we have made over the past years, improving the lives of all those affected by autism in Albania.”

The international organization “Autism Speaks” during the Seventh Annual World Focus on Autism meeting in New York, stressed the rapid increasing of children with autism in the world and the increasing needs of this community. Data suggests that autism affects approximately 1% of the global population. One of the essential issues for discussion were the opportunities of turning innovation into real actions, an effort led by Autism Speaks to address the universal challenge of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through awareness-raising and service improvement.

The Foundation at the Prague Forum ON INVESTING IN YOUNG CHILDREN GLOBALLY

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The American National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and the American Institute of Medicine in partnership with the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and the ISSAP Organization gathered on 4 November 2015 in Prague, experts and heads of international organizations, universities and agencies, for the Forum on Investing in young Children Globally. We ended the 15 years era of Millennium Development Goals and from September 2015 the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals where the development of children and early intervention occupy a specific and important place for the 15 years to come. Prague Forum, with a view to reach out to recommendations on local and regional policies, future studies and new services, was built as a platform for discussion of global actors among the most important in the field. Dr. Liri Berisha President of the Albanian Children Foundation, was invited to the Forum to introduce the model of early intervention on autism in Albania, chosen by organizers as one of the ‘best practices’ in the region. In her speech Dr. Liri Berisha, expressing her gratitude and appreciation for this invitation, said: “I think our history is generally a success story. Above all we have revived hope in a poor country with many problems where, despite progress, the burden on households remains high “. In his speech, Dr. Ariel Çomo Scientific and Research director of the Regional Center for Autism mentioned, inter alia, the importance from the beginning given to the research and data collection on implementation of the program in Tirana as a key element in the progress of early intervention programs in children with developmental problems.

At the conclusion of the Forum, the  Final Report compiled on the basis of referred data and discussions will be sent to the American Government to develop further policies and initiatives in the field of developmental problems.


Albanian Children Foundation becomes member of Autism European Organization.

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Children Foundation participated The General Assembly of the leader organization in Europe for Autism “Autism Europe”, which was held on May 1- 3, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.

In this Assembly, Albanian Children Foundation represented by Dr. Liri Berisha, received the highest praises by members of the Organization for the work done so far in these seven years in terms of supporting children with autism spectrum disorder. Appreciating the leader role in Europe of this organization in terms of lobbying and supporting the autism issue, Dr. Liri Berisha presented the activities of the Foundation and the Regional Centers for Autism established in Albania, conveying the gratitude and appreciation for the international organizations that have supported so far the Albanian Children Foundation.

During her speech, Dr. Liri Berisha emphasized the reasons why the Albanian Children Foundation must be a member of the great European family “Autism Europe” promising closer cooperation in the future with its member organizations in order to exchange best practices on autism issue. Ms. Zsuzsanna Szilvasy, President of Autism Europe praised the achievements of Albanian Children Foundation, progress which she said has personally followed since the establishment of the Foundation till now. She said: “What the Albanian Children Foundation has done is a short time, in terms of supporting children with autism in Albania and the region is a revolution compared to other European countries that have dozens of years of experience in dealing with this challenge of millennium, the battle against Autism”.

“Autism Europe” organization is the leading organization for Europe’s largest autism issues. It consists of 80 organizations and associations from 30 different European countries and has a strong influence in lobbying on the issue of the rights of persons with autism. The organization has a 40 year experience and is composed from the level of decision-taking to that of membership, by persons with autism spectrum disorder, parents of children with autism, doctors, clinicians, psychologists, psycho- sociologist therapists etc. that besides that produce services for people with autism spectrum disorder, are dedicated and mediate to their governments for better policies and more stable in terms of autism issue.

Albanian Children Foundation empowers the techniques of intervention for children with autism.

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Now adult children suffering from autism do not feel abandoned anymore. Intervention opportunities for this age are becoming real for the first time in Albania. Thanks to the latest techniques being introduced by the Albanian Children Foundation, the Regional Center for Autism in Farka has provided its therapists with the most recently method, “Pivotal Response treatment” that helps adult children to easily develop skills acquired through individual therapy, in any other premises that the child goes.

Regional Center for Autism in Farka put another milestone in terms of treating Autism spectrum disorder expanding its professionals’ vision. With the support of the Albanian Children Foundation, the Regional Autism Center held a few day training for its staff of therapists with new methods of treatment for children affected by the autism spectrum disorder. For this purpose, with the recommendation of the “Autism Speaks” International Organization, the Foundation has invited to Albania two trainers from California, US that are part of one of the most avanguard communities in the application of modern methods of autism spectrum disorder. They are Janice Chan and Tiffany Wang of the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, which are experts specialized in one of the latest and contemporary methods called “Pivotal Response Teaching” (PRT).

Under the guidance and assistance of the two trainers, PRT methods is introduced for the first time in Albania by Albanian Children Foundation for the professionals working with children in the Regional Center for Autism in Farka. This training would not have been possible without the chain of training currently available in the ABA, which principles are applied in the Center.

Ms. Tiffany Wang, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, San
Diego says: The Pivotal Response Treatment pays much attention and takes advantage is that it focuses in motivating the child. First we see what the child likes more and after we receive these preferences, we keep the level of motivation so that he might be ready and disposed to be learned. The advantage of this method from the others is its naturalness. So, this can develop into any environment from teacher, parent or therapist and skill’s development is easier at the therapy rooms, at home or in class.

But what are the benefits for children affected by autism spectrum by implementing this method?

Janice Chan, expert at the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, says: What we are doing at the Autism Center in Farka is moving this intervention from one to one therapy to group therapy. I was informed that the Albanian Children Foundation is preparing for the opening of a center with different classes for older children and what brings this training is to use this method in classes. This model empowers the treatment received till now and raises it to a new level to intervene in more complicated and problematic cases of autism spectrum disorder. This working model after learned from the therapists, adds the interventionist techniques skills, which in other words means: all this will be translated into interventions to a greater number of children, whether they are older or untreated before.