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Description
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the educational process to be made remotely / online, children with ASD / SEN, that were already at risk of exclusion, became victims, authorities failing in their mission to ensure inclusive education (set as strategic objective of the 2019-2030 Action Plan for Education). The problems have been reported by non-profit organizations working in the field both nationally (https://bit.ly/2VcukLd) and internationally (UNICEF, World Bank - https://bit.ly/2Wzyttz).
In order to correct this situation (which can be extended in the next school year, but also in other critical situations) and to give children with ASD / SEN a chance to education, the project proposes an integrated approach, in two directions:
- Advocacy for inclusive distance / online education addressed to institutions with responsibilities in the field to adopt measures that allow children with ASD / SEN to participate in appropriate distance / online learning activities; it includes specialised training programs for teachers and therapists after a methodology for distance / online education for children with ASD / SEN. We will involve in this actions organizations from the RO TSA network (85 organizations active in the field of autism at national level), but also other organizations whose beneficiaries are children with ASD / SEN / disabilities.
- Increasing the access of children with ASD / SEN to distance / online education by creating a guide of good practices and providing seminars specially designed for specialists, teachers and parents to support them in these activities. The good practice guide will be developed by Help Autism specialists and the seminars will be provided free of charge to project beneficiaries, on a platform specially designed for this purpose. The platform will also be used after the project, for courses provided by the association for the three categories of beneficiaries.
Summary of project results
Starting from the dramatic situation of the reduced participation of children with ASD / SEN in school activities during the period they took place online, the project aimed to address the problem in 3 directions, acting at the level of decision-making institutions (through activities advocacy), teachers (through specialized webinars and guides to increase their abilities to work with children with ASD / SEN in online / distance learning activities), as well as parents and specialists who can support children with ASD / SEN in online learning activities (through tailored webinars and guides).
The activities proposed for achieving these objectives were carried out according to the approved plan, as follows:
- advocacy activities: petitions were initiated and addressed to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, the Government of Romania, the National Authority for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Children and Adoptions, the Presidential Administration; meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Education were organised on discussing the necessity of phisical participation in school activities for children with special education need in special educational institutions;
- advocacy activities were based on the consultation of parents of children with ASD / SEN on subjects related to participation of children with autism / SEN in online school activities; results of this consultation were used when addressing the authorities: 18.5% of children with autism / SEN did not participate in online school activities in 2020-2021 and 40.6% did not receive the necessary support to participate in online educational activities on behalf of their teachers or of support staff provided by the institution;
- for training teachers, parents and specialists (therapists) in their effort to support children with ASD / SEN in online educational activities, specialized content was designed, adapted to each category. This content was the basis of the webinars held on the online platform HelpEdu.ro (https://helpedu.ro), created within the project for this purpose.
- 2 good practice guides have been designed for working with children with ASD / SEN in online educational activities: 1 general guide, addressed to all categories of people who support children with ASD / SEN and 1 guide specially dedicated to parents. The guides were uploaded on the HelpEdu.ro platform in the Resources section and can be downloaded free of charge by anyone interested in developing skills to support children with ASD / SEN in online learning activities. The guide for parents was sent to the parents of the beneficiaries of the Association, as well as of other associations, within the awareness campaign.
Advocacy activities were based on the consultation of parents of children with ASD / SEN on subjects related to participation of children with autism / SEN in online school activities on 249 cases.
The 6 webinars planned in the project took place on this platform (2 webinars for teachers, 2 webinars for parents and 2 webinars for specialists). In total, 357 people participated in these webinars. The platform also contains other educational resources developed within the project, as well as other resources that will be developed after its completion.
The visibility of the project and of the donors was ensured through visual elements and text on all the elements published within the project: posts on social platforms, press releases, the online platform HelpEdu.ro, and the guides of good practices. The project was presented, including donors and financial aid, in webinars held on the platform. Online news platforms also published information about the project in articles after the project''s press releases.