Rationale Our children, including children with special educational needs (SEN), have a right to an appropriate education. So the aims of education for kids with SEN are the same as apply to all children. Education should be about enabling all children, in line with their abilities, to live full and independent lives so that they can contribute to their communities, equally cooperate with other people and continue to learn throughout their lives. Education is about supporting children to develop in all aspects of their lives – spiritual, moral, cognitive, emotional, imaginative, aesthetic, social and physical. We believe that the active and responsible participation of parents and families is a crucial factor in the success of children with SEN. Parents can help their children to develop an organised approach to learning, build trust and open relationships which will result in a rounded and a confident child. This project aims at developing non-formal education for parents of children with SEN and also for specialists working with children with learning difficulties who want to constantly document and keep informed about their recovery. Thanks to this project, parents and specialists involved in the educational process of children with SEN will directly contribute to the social recovery and integration of our target group children. Children with educational challenges will thus have the opportunity to benefit from recuperative activities not only in the school environment – with therapists – but also in the family environment with parents. Methodology The innovative idea of the project started from the fact that the parents of our target group children face different stressful and existential situations (most of the times they feel socially marginalized together with their own children). We wanted to develop a WEB network at European level for parents who have children with SEN and develop motivational films of development of positive thinking, because – most of the time – parents are not interested in their own mental health but have a single goal, "to contribute only to the physical and mental development of one’s own child". Together with the idea of developing positive thinking of parents with children with SEN, we will also develop non formal education short movies through which they have the opportunity to learn how to work with their own child, being a continuation of the therapeutic process that the child makes it together with the specialists. Main objectives of the project: [1] making of motivational films of positive thinking and non-formal education with therapeutic examples for parents of children with SEN and for specialists wishing to benefit from continuous training; [2] developing of communication relations between parents-children-therapists community; [3] improving relationships between parents who have children with SEN and parents with children without educational challenges; [4] raising positive awareness of the local community; [5] discovering the lifestyle of a parent who has a child with SEN; [6] getting knowledge of new opportunities offered at EU level, intercultural and linguistic development; [7] developing lasting partnerships at the European level; [8] accumulating knowledge and classification of information on children with disabilities; [9] upgrading of non-formal education through cooperation and technology; [10] motivating parents to communicate with their own children and to know new options; [11] exploring particular strategies and approaches that can be employed in non-formal education [12] establishing adequate mechanisms for review and revisions of non-formal education for children with SEN. Outcomes The long term task of our project is in recognizing and learning successful experiences of non-formal education for parents of children with SEN, in understanding that weaknesses could be always balanced by amazing strengths. And in assisting the overall process – by striving to implement programs of non-formal education that inform our youth about the complexities and possibilities of the world in which they are growing up; empower them to address many challenges in their own lives; and provide them with endless opportunities to be inspired by the joys, wonders and mysteries of the natural world and human achievements.
Rationale Our children, including children with special educational needs (SEN), have a right to an appropriate education. The aims of education for kids with SEN apply to all children. Education should be about enabling all children, in line with their abilities, to live full and independent lives so that they can contribute to their communities, equally cooperate with other people and continue to learn throughout their lives. Education was about supporting children to develop in all aspects of their lives – spiritual, moral, cognitive, emotional, imaginative, aesthetic, social and physical. We believed that the active and responsible participation of parents and families was a crucial factor in the success of children with SEN. Parents can help their children to develop an organised approach to learning, build trust and open relationships which will result in a rounded and confident child. This project aimed at developing non-formal education for parents of children with SEN and also for specialists working with children with learning difficulties who wanted to document and be informed on their recovery. Thanks to this project, parents and specialists involved in the educational process of children with SEN directly contributed to the social recovery and integration of our target group. Children with educational challenges had the opportunity to benefit from recuperative activities not only in the school environment – with therapists – but also in the family environment with parents. Methodology The innovative idea of the project started from the fact that the parents of our target group children face different stressful and existential situations (most of the time feeling socially marginalized together with their own children). We wanted to develop a WEB network at European level for parents of children with SEN and develop motivational films of development of positive thinking, because – in some case – parents were showed little concern in their own mental health but had a single goal, "to contribute to the physical and mental development of their own child". Together with the idea of developing positive thinking of parents with children with SEN, we developed non-formal education short movies through which they had the opportunity to learn how to work with their own child, being a continuation of the therapeutic process that the child experiences with specialists. Main objectives of the project were: [1] To make of motivational films of positive thinking and non-formal education with therapeutic examples for parents of children with SEN and for specialists wishing to benefit from continuous training; [2] Develop relations between parents-children-therapists community; [3] Improve relationships between parents and children with and without SEN or educational challenges; [4] Raise positive awareness of the local community; [5] Discover the lifestyle of parents of children with SEN; [6] Increase knowledge of new opportunities offered at an EU level, intercultural and linguistic development; [7] Develop lasting partnerships at the European level; [8] Accumulate knowledge and classification of information on children with disabilities; [9] Upgrade of non-formal education through cooperation and technology; [10] Motivate parents to communicate with their own children and to learn new options and techniques; [11] Explore particular strategies and approaches that can be employed in non-formal education [12] Establish adequate mechanisms for review and revisions of non-formal education for children with SEN. Outcomes The long term task of our project was to recognize and learn successful experiences of non-formal education for parents of children with SEN, in understanding that weaknesses could be always balanced by amazing strengths. In assisting the overall process and by striving to implement programs of non-formal education that inform our youth about the complexities and possibilities in the world of which they are part of, the project aimed to empower them to address many challenges in their own lives, providing them with endless opportunities to be inspired by the joys, wonders and mysteries of the natural world and human achievements.