ESC: Schuman Volunteers _ Special Kindergarten no. 393

The Special Kindergarten No 393 is an educational establishment for physically and multiple disabilities children. It is situated in Warsaw, Mokotów district. There are approximately 16, three to eight year-old children divided into 4 groups. The staff consists of 10 specialists such as special pedagogues, psychologist, therapist, speech therapists, physiotherapists, assistants in every group, support staff, volunteers and students. The Kindergarten is open from September to June. We also have holiday duty for six weeks in July and August. Our pupils have mostly physical disabilities, which are often accompanied by various developmental disorders, e.g. cerebral palsy, different genetic syndromes, other physical and intellectual disabilities, non-speaking children also with visual and hearing problems. The children are eager to welcome newcomers but the verbal contact is difficult as most of pupils are not able to speak. In Kindergarten there are different methods used to communicate with the children, from Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to high technology equipment to communicate with pupils. We are equipped not only in low AAC technology like PCS (Picture Communication Symbols) or gestures but also in high technology like tablet, advance programmes for non-speaking children, Go-Talks, other talking devices like Big-Step by-Step or switches and computer facilties like special track ball to operate a mouse. We also own Sensory Integration equipment. We also provide a unique educational developmental cognitive curriculum for the early years, specially designed to provide optimal learning experiences that is based on Vygotskian theory. We also use elements of Montessori method. Moreover, we organize puppet theatres, professional theatres, cinemas and concerts for our children. We cooperate with other regular kindergartens and try to organize common activities with the goal to integrate children with society. As we an educational institution we also cooperate with students from Academy of Special Education and Academy of Physical Education. We are a part of local community. We also cooperate with private primary school organizing and celebrating “October-month of AAC users”, teaching healthy children how to play , build an interaction with non-speaking child, communicate using AAC (learning some new gestures, symbols, creating a simple song for everybody like breaking bridges).