Even though we are always on the lookout for adventures, places to eat and new things to try out, we also like to get involved in as much charity or volunteer work as we can manage. While going through my Facebook newsfeed, event invites and also the events section on One Place Bangkok, (where I freelance as a writer, something really caught my eye – a charity event.

You might ask, ok, so what’s so special about a charity event? They happen all the time. Well this one did not seem like any plain, run-of-the-mill charity event. The story behind it is what captivated me.

This particular charity event is also a launch of a non-profit magazine, SEEK, which focuses primarily on child development delays. SEEK magazine is basically a platform of information, advice and aid for children who have development delays in different stages of their life – from early years to adolescences.

The launch and charity event is set to raise money towards its scholarship programs on November 7th 2015, which will provide financial assistance to families around the world who have children in need of early intervention therapy.

Close to the Heart

After a bit of research we found out that what makes this charity event so important and different is that it is very close to the heart of its co-founder, Becky Horace (also a fellow freelance writer at One Place Bangkok).  Becky arrived in Bangkok on January 2013 because of her husband’s job. During her first few months in the city, she noticed her two-year-old son was having a hard time adjusting to the move and had a significant regression in his speech and social skills. That is when she found help through Reed Institute, a learning disabilities school. After months of therapy, Becky decided to start an online magazine focusing on child and human development. She started this foundation with Ali Khakpoor, a licensed clinical psychologist. Since then she hasn’t looked back.

We wanted to learn more about Becky and her journey so we decided to ask her some questions about how SEEK all started and where her future plans are with it.

The Interview

Dose of Life: Human development is a cause that is very close to your heart. How did you decide you want to help others in the same situation?

Becky: With being a new expat in Bangkok, not really understanding what was going on with my son and being so far from support of family, I felt terribly lonely in our current situation. On top of the fact that our family back home wasn’t able to see the struggles we were dealing with here in our new home of Bangkok, they would try to make us feel better by saying “He is fine. You are just overreacting.” So with no real support from home only in that they couldn’t see what was going on and being new to a foreign land made me want to write our story in the hopes that if anyone were to read it they would know they aren’t alone. I had no idea where the story would lead but on my personal blog I wrote everything down, really for my own therapeutic reasons as well. In doing so I had parents from around the world reach out to me through my site and through emails thanking me for writing our journey or by them reading the story it gave them the courage to seek help. Once those emails started rolling in, I felt I had a duty to help as many people as possible just by being honest and open about our situation. I think a lot of times parents do not want to accept something is “wrong” with their child but they need to remember there is no shame in saying you need help. Denial is the enemy here.

Dose of Life: What are the different stages of development delays and why is it important for parents to understand them?

Becky: Developmental delays are just that a delay in a child’s development from one stage to the next and it could happen at any age. There could be a delay in their motor skills, social skills, language skills, and so on. Luckily as parents we do not need to know it all and normally our pediatrician, if they ask us the right questions, can help us to pin point if something is wrong. That is what happened with our family, our pediatrician had us answer questions regarding our son’s development for his age at 18 months and when he saw our answers didn’t meet the “typical” development he suggested something was off. In our case, he thought maybe it was due to us moving to another country and our son was not adjusting well but he still recommended we see specialists and remain calm.

Dose of Life: So what are some early signs for development delays that parents should look out for?

Becky: This really could be anything and I am NO EXPERT, just a parent who lived through something similar. In our case, our son was vocal and had acquired language. He was social, would make eye contact, smile, hug, kiss. As soon as we moved to Bangkok, day by day we saw that leave him. He had a regression in his normal behavior- that was the key. We just kept saying “He is adjusting to his new life here. Hearing all these languages is probably confusing.”

His regression continued to where he had lost all of the vocabulary he had.

He wouldn’t play with other children, he would not make eye contact with anyone, and he would simply stare at his toy and roll it back and forth. When I would call his name he would not even turn his head to look. He had no interest in anyone anymore and because he had lost the ability to communicate that led to a lot of crying, screaming and tantrums.

If a parent isn’t sure what to look out for they can always base it on “typical” development for the child’s age. If they notice their child is exhibiting some “atypical” behavior they should see their pediatrician. It is always best to consult the professionals.

Dose of Life: You aim to provide financial assistance to families and their children with development delays. How and where do you find them?

Becky: Our plan with the scholarship program is to open it up to applicants around the world. If they have a need they can go through the process of applying for a scholarship. We will use our writers, social media, and our website to get the word out when the application process is open but first the funds have to be present – hence the Charity Launch.

Dose of Life: How does your financial assistance help these families other than cover the cost of medical support?

Becky: Since a child’s therapy could go on for years and costs thousands of dollars we would simply like to help elevate the financial burden as there is no way to pay for someone’s entire therapy costs. Our hope would be to provide a family with some information and knowledge from a certified professional with the tips and tricks on how to help their child at home while they wait to continue their therapy. We figure every little bit of help counts for something in changing a child’s brain!

Dose of Life: How do you manage to help children who have passed a certain stage for early intervention therapy?

Becky: I would not want to turn anyone down who came to us in need so in the future we will have different outreach programs to help whoever we can. Developmental delays can last a life time but if they are young enough with early intervention the situation can be mitigated.

Dose of Life: Tell us something about the SEEK Magazine Charity Launch that people don’t already know.

Becky: This is our first big attempt at fundraising and getting our cause out there for people to see. Over the past year, we have been working hard on providing free resources online from experts in the field to our readers around the world, obtained grant funding, became a IRS recognized Public Charity, and have worked non-stop all for free. Even with this charity launch we will not “profit” in any way personally. We simply want to jump start our scholarship fund and get that ball rolling as soon as possible to really start making a difference in people’s lives. 

Dose of Life: Who can we expect to see there? Types of businesses, people, etc.

Becky: We are still working on our headlining sponsors but I expect to see business leaders, expats, locals, local businesses, and really anyone that is looking to have a fun evening while helping a good cause. We have beer provided from Two Tales Brewing, live music performance from Alex Sypsomos, event photography from Jessica Teal Photography, silent auction items from Snapper, Kai, Babies & More Photography, Sampran Riverside Resort, Paul’s Antiques, and many more.

Dose of Life: The charity launch is just the beginning. What’s next for SEEK? Where do you see it in the next 5 or 10 years?

Becky: In the next 5 to 10 years, I would love to see SEEK really making an impact with the scholarship programs but that all depends on our fundraising efforts and our yearly sponsors. I would love for SEEK to be the go-to website for reliable information about child development “typical and atypical.” We will just have to wait and see what is in store!

Certainly! What Becky and co are doing for children with development issues is indeed an amazing thing. We are definitely excited to attend the launch + charity event and all that it has to offer, not to mention for only a 1,000 Baht inclusive of free flow of wine and for a good great cause? How can we (or anyone) say no to that? If you’re interested to help out more in the silent auction, raffle draws or just have a good night, make sure you RSVP and buy your ticket now.

Stay tuned for our post-event write-up about how it all went. .