Valentine Dmitriev Ph.D.

Valentine (Val) Dmitriev held a doctor of philosophy degree in early childhood education/ special education from the University of Washington. She worked in the field of early education with typically as well as with atypically developing children. A pioneer in infant learning and early intervention, she developed and coordinated the Down syndrome program described in Time to Begin.

Val Dmitriev was born in Shanghai, China, of Russian parents who fled their homeland at the height of the Bolshevik Revolution. From China, the family migrated to Canada. After a few years in Vancouver, B.C., they settled in the Seattle area.

At 19, she graduated with a B.A. from the University of Washington, and a year later married a fellow alumnus, Nick Dmitriev. In 1950, after the last of their three children had been born, Dr. Dmitriev went to work as a part-time nursery school teacher and family life instructor for the Seattle Public Schools Family Life Program.

During the years that followed, she developed a growing concern for developmentally disabled children. In the early 1960’s, she entered graduate school to pursue her interest in special education and to join the academic staff of the UW Developmental Psychology Laboratory Preschool. In 1970, Dr. Dmitriev accepted a staff position at the Experimental Education Unit, also at the University of Washington. A year later the Down syndrome program was established.

Following an early retirement and the death of her husband, Dr. Dmitriev left the Seattle area to live in a quiet, waterfront community on Whidbey Island. She later married Richard F. O’Donovan, a retired Federal civil servant and a holder of a black belt in Karate. Until his death, she continued her career as an educator, consultant and author.

Valentine Dmitriev died June 4, 2015 in Hackettstown New Jersey where she moved to from Whidbey Island in 2005 to be near a son and daughter.