On July 14th, 2022 Visaginas “Verdenės” gymnasium invited representatives of various Latvian and Lithuanian institutions and organizations, parents, children, employees of other social partners to participate in final conference of the project “„Quality improvement and diversity development of social services for  Lithuanian and Latvian children with special needs (SEE ME)“ Nr. LLI-436, financed by Interreg V-A Latvia and the Lithuanian program.

Olga Černis, director of the Visaginas “Verdenės” gymnasium, opened the conference with a welcome speech and expressed her joy at the cross-border, cultural relations, effective joint activities and the development of services for disabled children and youth, thanked the project team and partners for the successful implementation of the project. The Deputy Mayor of Kraslava Municipality, Aivars Trūlss, was also happy with the results achieved. Gintautas Matkevičius, head of the Culture and Education Department of Molėtai municipality, wished the partners not to stop and continue such successful cooperation.

“The Fun Orchestra” performed at the conference: four project participants, children with special educational needs, cheerfully played six short pieces. They even invited Vice Mayor of Visaginas Aleksandras Grigiene to join them in the perfomance.

The coordinators of all three project partners, Irina Morozova, Ligita Nagla and Asta Jakovlevienė, presented the main tasks implemented in each municipality during the project, achieved goals and results, spoke about the benefits to society, the importance of promoting the integration of disabled children. Gymnasium speech therapist Vilma Balčiūnienė and teacher Natalia Matyskina talked about the prepared educational programs for people with special educational needs: the professional orientation program “Volunteering” and two educational programs “Funny Orchestra” and “Cinema/Animation Studio”. Gymnasium psychologist Daiva Šarkienė presented the initiative implemented during the project – the activities of the Family Club. The project partners shared information about the prepared educational programs: the programs “Design”, “Young Nature Explorers” and “Fitness and Mind Therapy” were developed and tested in Dagda, and “Fun Ceramics”, “Wool Magic” and “Young Nature Explorers” in Molėtai. .

The project’s summer camp activities were presented by Anita Malinovska, director of the boarding school for the disabled in Aleksandrava, and emphasized the importance of organized summer camps for the development of children with special educational needs and shared the good experience of organizing camps.

At the conference, Asta Skutkevičienė, the mother of the project participant Paulius, told about her son’s experience in the camps. She illustrated his story with photos. She wished the organizers to continue this activity, because Paulius would like to go to the camp next year as well. This report emphasized the importance of such activities for the integration of disabled children and the development of their social skills.

At the end of the conference, the project participants discussed the continuity of activities organized on the basis of the implemented project, future project ideas and agreed to meet in the fall to discuss future projects.

Dėl papildomos informacijos prašome kreiptis į Iriną Morozovą, morozova.projektai@gmail.com

Projektą finansuoja 2014-2020 Interreg V-A Latvijos ir Lietuvos programa.

Daugiau informacijos apie Latvijos – Lietuvos bendradarbiavimo apibus sienos programą galima rasti www.latlit.eu  ir www.europa.eu.

Šis straipsnis parengtas naudojant Europos Sąjungos finansinę paramą. Už šio straipsnio turinį atsako Visagino „Verdenės“ gimnazija. Jokiomis aplinkybėmis negali būti laikoma, kad jis atspindi Europos Sąjungos nuomonę. www.latlit.eu ir www.europa.eu.