Did you know that every time you talk to your child, their brain grows? After her daughter developed a disability, Irena Orlović did everything in her power to stimulate her child’s development.

As she sought out experts to learn as much as possible about her situation, Orlović felt the responsibility to make these resources readily available to other parents, as well as to educate parents on their role in their child's growth.

The way parents communicate with their children today will shape them as individuals in the future. “Today we already know with certainty that intelligence is not entirely hereditary, that we inherit only a sketch, and [we know more about] how children will be shaped and built,” Orlović says. “The brain depends on the interaction of the child with the parents and then on the environment. I dare say that today, in the 21st century, in addition to so much knowledge, it is irresponsible for parents to expect only institutions to take care of the child's intellectual development. Institutions are there as a form of help that can give us guidance, but the biggest responsibility lies with us.“

Orlović, one of Croatia's top child development experts and a Start Something priceless™ ambassador, came to realize that her country was experiencing a lack of research and books on child development. Driven by her personal experience, she decided to set up a publishing house and become a communication expert.

Orlović completed a five-year education in the field of neuro-linguistic psychotherapy and created Harfa Publishing House, where she works as the owner and editor. Harfa publishes books focused on parenting and intellectual growth. Orlović’s main goal through her work at Harfa is to help parents with the healthy development of their child, through early stimulation of emotional and cognitive abilities.

Orlović also created an award-winning web application called Pametnica (Smarty), which offers working materials to encourage children’s speech and language development.

Unprecedented times are driving us to connect and communicate in new ways. As the whole world is inevitably changing during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding new ways to cherish time with their loved ones at home. Knowing that this new environment can be challenging, priceless™ Croatia has partnered with Orlović to bring you a series of helpful educational videos on successful communication.

The first video from the series, “7 Secrets of Successful Communication With Your Child in Difficult Times,” offer valuable tips for supporting your child's emotional needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this video, Orlović will guide you through seven ways to help you connect with your child emotionally, improve their communication skills, and help them develop a positive self-image and self-awareness. Her guidance includes background on how the human brain works, as well as tips for modeling calm and positive communication yourself, since children often imitate their parents.

Orlović will also demonstrate how you can communicate with your child to help work through any traumatic experiences they may have had during the day. At the end of the video, you will discover how to quickly come up with a story that you can use as a tool to teach your child important life lessons.

“The way we interact with children significantly affects the way their brains develop. That is why it is priceless to know how to communicate well with children,” Orlović says. “I hope this video will help parents from all over the world to have a good relationship with their children, so that their children grow into self-confident and self-aware people.”

Orlović also encourages you to download the workbook accompanying her video series that contains helpful, practical materials and exercises to guide you through the video.