Different, but special

2016-08-13

“Different, but special”

Assistance to disabled children and children with special needs

Institutions, taking part in the project, who need help:

Vilnius Special School Atgaja, which has pupils with intellectual and complex disabilities, aged 7 – 21 years old (their number reaches 112).

Klaipėda Kindergarten Versmė, attended by 114 children with significant needs for special education, having different development disorders (autism, different neurological diseases, slow development, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.).

Goal of the Project:

• With the help of activities, organized by Vilnius Special School Atgaja, to improve the disabled children’s social integration and provide psychosocial assistance to children with special needs and their families;
• To install a sensory room in Klaipėda Kindergarten Versmė, which will provide for the children the possibility to calm down, increase the concentration of attention, stimulate hearing, vision, smell and other senses.

The current situation:

Referring to the studies, performed by municipalities and the teachers, working at the said schools, we can make the following conclusions:

• The children lack special learning and visual aids;
• The children’s parents take little part in the educational process. There is a lack of common learning sessions, trips and other common activities;
• Due to lack of pedagogical knowledge parents often inadequately evaluate the child’s possibilities (too high or too low expectations);
• There is a significant lack of therapeutic tools, facilitating the disabled children’s development;

Requested budget of the project:

The total amount required for the project implementation is 10 000 Eur:

                 2,000 Eur – for Vilnius Special School Atgaja;

8,000 Eur – for the sensory room in Klaipėda Kindergarten Versmė;

The expected results of the project:

                  The good practice creative-practical seminars at Vilnius Special School Atgaja for parents and specialists, during which they would share their practical experience when working with disabled children and their family members; common classes of creativity with

Special kids.

Arrangement of the sensory room at Klaipėda’s Kindergarten Versmė, would help children to overcome the adaptation difficulties, reduce aggression, anxiety, distraction and improve the children’s social skills in the changing environments.

Terms of project implementation: 2016.06 – 2017.01

We all are different and at the same time we all are similar, but not all of us are able to stand out from the crowd and draw other people’s attention. And those, who are really “different” stay silent and wait patiently till the society draws attention to them as full-fledged members.

Let’s draw attention to those children, let’s help them, their parents, families and teachers. Let it be the beginning of a new road, not so easy, but very meaningful and sensitive – a road towards a special child, his development and worldview.