About 650 children with special educational needs, aged between zero and seven, from five regions of the country benefitted from support and access to innovative services that contributed to their welfare and social inclusion. Alongside their parents, the children took part in four support and education programs implemented during three years by the association “Partnerships for Each Child” that presented the results of the project on December 7, IPN reports.
The project was implemented in the pilot districts Cahul, Călărași, Fălești, Nisporeni and Ungheni. “Partnerships for Each Child” director Daniela Mămăligă said the achieved results are visible and the time is now opportune to extend the initiative nationwide.
International consultant Elayn Sammon said that despite the made progress, there are children with special educational needs, either from poor families or who were affected by migration or who continue to be discriminated. It is very important to intervene since early childhood, which is fundamental for realizing children’s rights. The project that was supported the EU also pursued the goal of strengthening the efforts of civil society, the central and local authorities so as to increase access to education secrecies, to avoid social isolation and to improve the relationship between the child and the parent.
About 600 children with SENs learned to communicate and to easier express their emotions through music. Music therapy is applied individually or in a group from an early age. It is recommended to children with motor deficiencies, with autism spectrum disorders or behavioral disorders. Music therapy can be used by parents, caregivers, therapists, educators, teachers and other plyers involved.
Another component of the project, Mellow Parenting, is a course therapy for strengthening parents’ skills and the relations between parents and children based on the attachment theory. Several hundred parents were helped to improve their skills. The communication program Makaton involves the use of signs and symbols for helping the people to communicate. This will be applied as a working instrument of all the players involved in the education of children with speech and communication disorders.
Besides the implementation of education programs in the five pilot districts, six NGOs from both sides of the Nistru benefitted from small grants of €4,500 each for activities to develop models of support and early intervention for children with special needs. The total value of the EU-funded project was €680,000.
