Elina lives in Nizhny Novgorod, she has autism. Elina took part in our Education Project and as a result went to school where teachers were trained to work with children like her. School helped her develop new skills and make new friends. Watch this video to hear Elina’s story:

Svetlana Tsareva, Elina’s mother: 

“She’s a completely different child. If you compare how Elya was when we came to the school and what she’s like now, it’s like two different people. To be honest, I can’t even believe she’s come this far, because she has a rather severe form of autism.

We probably spent a whole year teaching her to come to school. Just to open the door and go in. And now she goes to school happily. If we told her she couldn’t go to school one day, it would probably be like some kind of punishment she’d be so sad. She really loves PE because she can run and jump.

Now she’s doing just great. Yesterday they did selfies with the teachers and it was just brilliant. She is starting to write at home, she’s always on social media, she types really fast without looking at the keyboard at all.

I’m happier. She is happy and I am happy. I just know that things will get even better, that we will make progress and that she’ll develop at home intellectually, as a person. We are happy!”

Aleksandr Volkovsky, Elina’s teacher: 

“She came to my class for the first time during PE. She came into the room, chose a spot and lay down. For the whole lesson I was unable to move her anywhere else. Every time I asked her to do something active, she shouted and screamed, bit her arm and turned away from me.

I am seeing huge changes in her – now she comes to class to do PE, rather than to lie on the floor as she did at first. She has started playing active games with other children, which was a huge breakthrough for me as a teacher as I can engage her in games now. She has become more agile.”

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