By implementing the project, we wanted to use new methods and forms of work to raise the quality of teaching and improve the competence of special education teachers and teachers of general subjects for working with children on the autistic spectrum. In addition to work methods, we also wanted to get to know new teaching tools, work organization, and the space itself where children with autism live and learn.
The "Vule Antić" school is a school for primary and secondary education of students with developmental disabilities in Vranje, Serbia. It is the only one of its kind in the Pčinj district where we raise, educate, and train children with developmental disabilities. Through observation, detailed defectological assessment, individual lesson plans and individualized treatments, we discover and nurture the abilities of our students. For years, mostly children with mild intellectual disabilities enrolled in our school; however, in recent years we have witnessed a steady increase in the number of children. Teaching staff, especially those with longer working experience, face new challenges because they did not go through programs to work with children with autism during their undergraduate studies. By reviewing the teachers' personal professional development plans, we noticed that everyone is interested in learning new methods in working with children on the autism spectrum (ABA, TEACCH program, Play therapy, Son rise, and so on). For this reason, with this project, we wanted to learn new methods of working with children with autism.