Princeton Family Affected by Autism Thrives at Eden Institute, Special Olympics

Thousands travel from Princeton to New York each day, but Dina Delgiudice found herself drawn in the opposite direction. 

That's because Delgiudice's son, Andrew Asch, needed help. 

"When he was like 16 or 18 months old, I noticed there was something wrong with him," Delgiudice said. "He seemed to be losing his hearing. He stopped responding the way he had been responding."

After taking Andrew to be checked by a doctor several times, Delgiudice's son was disagnosed with autism.

"This was the early 1990s," she said. "That was the middle ages when it came to understanding autism. We moved from New York to (Princeton) New Jersey because of the services provided at Eden Institute. You figure you can get whatever services you need in a big place like New York City, but they just weren't available at the time."

Eden Institute, located in Plainsboro, provides year round educational services for people with autism between the ages of 3-21.

Ken Dorfman, a teacher at the school, was drawn to the Eden Institute after he saw a job opening and joined the school in 1981. 

"I just fell in love with place," Dorfman said. 

Asch, Delgiudice and Dorfman were all at The College of New Jersey over the weekend for Special Olympics New Jersey Summer Games.

Andrew, now 19, competed in the softball throw and the 50-meter dash events.

"My son has improved so much," Delgiudice said. "He was diagnosed with autism at two-and-a-half. Eden Institute has just done so much for him. He had a very rigid and small lifestyle. Eden provides a foundation that opened things up for him. He speaks now. He wasn't potty-trained. He only ate certain foods. Eden changed that. Special Olympics has also done a lot for him as well."

Other Eden Institute students competing at the Summer Games were Kevin Valluzzo, James Van Leeuwen, Isaac Silva, Matthew Santos, Alex Rich, Sammy Pickett, Robert Petrocchi, Brian McHale, Christopher Gore, Travis Gaunt, Joseph Capawana, Michelle Buchinski and Spencer Abere.

"A lot of these guys aren't competitive," Dorfman said. "They don't care about winning or losing. It's all the stuff involved with Special Olympics that's important to them."

Special Olympics is a worldwide organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. 

Just like the other Olympics, the Special Olympics Summer Games have an opening ceremony and the 2300 athletes stay in an Olympic Village on the TCNJ campus. The athletes also have access to an on-site Wellness Center. 

"It's such a wonderful event," Delgiudice said. "It's amazing he can do something like this."

So let the thousands of people go from Princeton to New York on a daily basis. Delgiudice doesn't care. She knows she went in the right direction.

For more information about Special Olympics New Jersey, call 609-896-8000 or visit www.sonj.org.