Proper language development is not only important for communication, it is also necessary for all aspects of a child’s development, including learning and socialization. In the past few years there has been a significant increase in the number of children on Long Island who are bilingual or multilingual through adoption or immigration. This influx has created a critical need to ensure that these children are given every opportunity to succeed in life.

Lilya Popovetsky of Merrick was a Russian-born special education evaluator who specialized in working with Russian children in Nassau County.

“[At that time] I was only focused on one culture and one language and I found there was a big demand for many other languages,” she says.

To meet this growing need, Lilya founded A Multilingual Development Agency, Inc. (MDA) three years ago and is the only New York State-approved Early Intervention Agency that is contracted by the Nassau County Early Intervention Program. MDA offers services to assess the development of children—from birth to 3 years old—in more than 30 different languages, including their development in cognition, adaptive skills, social-emotional development, physical development, and communication skills. All evaluations are conducted in the child’s dominant language, 
“Evaluations are the heart of what I do,” Lilya says. “Zero to 3 [years of age] is a very critical time of development. It’s when a lot happens—that’s when you see the impact of the therapy [we provide].”

MDA also provides counseling and guidance to families who are adopting a child either internationally or domestically, and she specializes in post-adoption evaluations. Lilya is also well-known in the community as a speaker at support groups and adoption conferences.

Lilya has grown MDA into an agency that services more than 150 families through a network of more than 100 providers that are NYS-certified, approved by the NY State Department of Health and then personally screened by Lilya. The referral-only, state-funded program includes speech and language therapy, physical and occupational therapy and audiological evaluations.

Lilya manages the entire agency herself and is intimately involved in every phase of the evaluation including meeting the child and family, reading and editing the progress reports, overseeing the evaluations and recommendations, right down to the accounting. How does she do this all herself?

“Technology is a great tool,” she explains.
Lilya makes sure to incorporate the family or caregiver into the child’s sessions so that the entire family can carry over the therapy that is being used into their daily lives. “A child is not a number. I am focused on providing the highest quality of care,” she says. “I love knowing everyone and everything. I make sure there is no lapse [in their care] and that nothing falls through the cracks. I don’t want to lose the intimacy [of working with the family]. [Together] we can change their whole life.”

For more information go to www.multilingualdevelopment.com or call 516-730-5001.

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