By implementing the DIS-COOP project, we 1.) Improved the quality of the informal-nonformal educational support of SEN youth with changing experiences and best practices. 2.) Designed and tested a ready-to-use, complex methodological exercise-list for non-specialist youth organisations and cooperating nin-profit organizations operating in the cultural-social sector. 3.) Improved facilitator competences with SEN methods. 4.) Multiplied the spirit of the project theme in a larger social context and contributed to combating stigma, and promoting a positive perception of SEN.
We applied for this project because we felt the need for further specialisation, capacity building and appropriate expertise to work with SEN youth. The project aimed to provide an exchange of experience that would enable each participant to broaden their own area of expertise and develop a complex list of methodologies that any other organisation in this situation could use immediately. We believed that the disadvantages faced by young people with SEN could be counteracted by working in small communities involving civil members, parents, youth workers and experts, where these young people felt safe and got time and space to develop their social, personal skills and inclusion. To reply to these needs a methodological framework and a ready-to-use exercise list supporting civil organisations working with SEN youth or homogeneous youth teams involving SEN target groups was designed. The design was carried out to include the necessary management steps and 4 thematic sessions, namely: Emotional Therapy Line; Physical Therapy Line and Cognitive Therapy Line which led to a compile complex methodology exercise list and a final handbook covering the project partners’ needs.