Period of implementation of the project: 

2019 – 2020

Challenge: 

1. Assistance of the educational institution Mostyshche State Special Boarding School of I-II Degrees in building a speech development system for children with the help of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) symbols during 2020 by conducting lectures, supervision and providing teaching materials to students and teachers.
2. Free online Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Educational Course for professors and parents, which helps to ensure the knowledge and basic skills of speech and communication development. Lecture recordings.
3. Promoting the idea of using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) as a way to adapt educational and social space and make it friendly to the needs of people with disabilities and / or speech disorders and provide their social integration and a full life.
4. Creating an ecosystem around the implementation of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and the formation of the All-Ukrainian Association on AAC for the implementation of inclusive practices in education and society.

Solution: 

To achieve this goal, the social enterprise “DyvoGra” has developed products for people who due to speech and reading disorders can not study according to traditional textbooks. 

Specially designed symbols of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) were used, which allow to present information in an accessible way. 

“DyvoGra” publications are used in inclusive and special education, and during home studies. 

151 books for speech and communication development worth UAH 36,848 were presented to the library fund of Mostyshche State Special Boarding School of I-II Degrees.

Children with mental disabilities, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and speech impairments were given access to learning through adapted books AAC symbols.  It allows children to acquire knowledge within the program, communication skills and household skills in an accessible way.

Target 4a: Training and supervision for specialists who work with children with autism and speech disorders. 

During the project, the specialists of “DyvoGra”, the NGO “My Family” and partners held training on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC):

• 2 offline meetings and 
• with the participation of the NGO “Healthy Society” with the involvement of all the parties to the project 5 online lectures, available now for free on Youtube, were prepared 
• 3 supervisions were planned for school teachers in the fall of 2020. 

Upon completion of the project, specialists will have the opportunity to share their experience with other relevant institutions and tell how to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) symbols for children with ASD and speech delay. Sharing experiences will be useful to other inclusive and special institutions as well as to families of children with speech disorders.

Educational articles for professionals and parents in this section are available free of charge.

In the context of the COVID-19, we conducted a series of free webinars and provided opportunities for thousands of specialists to improve their knowledge and professional skills in speech development for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

The promotion and dissemination of information about AAC is due to the necessity of education of specialists and parents of children with disabilities, the formation of a tolerant attitude towards people with disabilities, promoting their autonomy and integration into public life.

At this stage of the project, we are working on the development of a manual on the basics of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which will be in online format and will be released in December 2020

Results: 

The project lasts from December 2019 to December 2020 and is implemented in 2 directions:

Direction 1: Mostyshche State Special Boarding School of I-II Degrees Targeted Informational support

December 2019 – March 2020 

• team and volunteers held 2 offline master classes on speech development for the students;
• Mostyshche State Special Boarding School of I-II Degrees received 151books, which were adapted by AAC symbols, for the educational process.

February 2020 – March 2020

• 2 offline workshops for school specialists on the method of using pictograms for speech development and communication skills in children with disabilities were held.

April – May 2020 – participation of school specialists in the educational course.

September – November 2020 – 3 supervision meetings on the use of ACC materials at school and assistance to particular students are planned.

November – December 2020 it is planned to summarize the school’s annual experience in implementing AAC and online exchange of experience with other specialized institutions in the form of a webinar.

Direction 2: Educational activities on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

During the quarantine period, the cooperation was transformed into an online format.

April – May 2020 partners from the public sector developed and held a free webinar course on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for teachers and parents of children with special educational needs.

Within the course, 5 specialists held 4 online lectures on the development of speech and communication in children with special educational needs, which have already reached more than 16 thousand views. 

September – November 2020 – an online publication of a 24-page manual is planned, which will provide available and step-by-step instructions on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and the use of symbols for speech development in children at home and at school: information on AAC, where to start, main principles and examples of use for specialists and parents. 

The manual will be distributed free of charge.

Category: People

Company: Co-applicant: Individual entrepreneur Usatenko Hanna (Social enterprise “DyvoGra”) & LLC “HUAWEI UKRAINE”

About the company: 

LLC “HUAWEI UKRAINE” is the world’s leading provider of information and communication solutions.

“DyvoGra” (Individual entrepreneur Usatenko Hanna) is a social enterprise that creates books and card sets for speech and communication development.

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