Talk at the University of Belgrade

During my recent visit to Serbia with Sheila Merzer I experienced a bit of the University of Belgrade. We had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Vera Rajovic, a Psychology Professor and Dr. Lidija Radulovic, a Professor of Pedagogy, at the University of Belgrade. We drank Turkish Coffee (new experience for me), chatted about the University and about the students that we would later meet and about ourselves. We were invited to speak to the fourth year students in Psychology and Dr. Rajovic translated for us (another new experience for me).

Attending the lecture that we gave was the mother of a 28 year old young man who has autism. She chairs the parent organization for parents of children with ASD in Serbia. I would have very much enjoyed talking to her parent organization and will try to do this, if invited, the next time I visit my daughter.

We also had in attendance three professionals who work in a day school program for children with autism, Vesna Srdanovic Halilovic, Psychologist, Natasha Dosevska, Psychologist; and Novka Grbic, Speech Therapist. I so wished that we had known that we would meet them all and we would have scheduled more time to hear news of what is working and what is difficult for them in that setting.

Now that I am back home, and my trip seems kind of a blur, I need time to think about all that we experienced in Serbia but I know that the few hours we spent at the University of Belgrade will stand out as an important memory. And I am going to see if I can figure out how to make Turkish Coffee.