FINAL ACTIVITIES OF AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

 

On 2–3 December, the final conference of the project “The pilot model of PERFECT organization providing teaching and social integration services for children and youth with special needs” (LLI-379, PERFORM) was held at the Kaišiadorys St. Faustina School Multifunctional Centre. The project, funded by the Interreg Latvia-Lithuania 2014–2020 programme, is coming to the end of its activities. The project partners — Kaišiadorys St. Faustina School–Multifunctional Centre and Pelči Special Boarding Primary School-Development Centre — have successfully implemented all the activities, despite the difficulties and pandemic. The main objective of the project was to strengthen social integration opportunities for Latvian–Lithuanian children and young people with special needs by combining the resources and knowledge of the partners and addressing the target group's issues. A pilot model of a model organisation for the provision of quality services to children and young people with special needs and an electronic system for monitoring the quality of services has been developed through the efforts of researchers and education professionals. A very important result of the project is the completion of the Sensory Clinic therapy studio at the Kaišiadorys St. Faustina School–Multifunctional Centre, which will not only provide therapy services to the school's pupils and visitors but also be open to all people with disabilities in the district. The project has brought significant benefits to the school-multifunctional centre: summer camps, pupil-teacher exchanges, exchange of good practices, training for parents and staff on how to communicate with and educate children with special needs. The project has fostered social integration of the children and cooperation between the project participants. We are particularly excited about the long-term legacy of the project, the Sensory Clinic studio, which will feature a major innovation in the form of therapeutic programmes: audio-visual therapy, smell therapy, movement and art therapy, and story therapy. These programmes will provide significant benefits for people with special needs, such as calming, relieving stress, fatigue and improving overall body function, relaxation, well-being, and physical fitness. We are all looking forward to the opening of the therapy studio.