Haven in Romania
St Mary’s visit to
Piatra Neamt 2016
On Monday, 14 November six members of the church family arrived in Piatra Neamt to work with the teachers at the Silvia Day Centre.
The day centre is where the group of Romanian children with special needs from the age of 3 to the age of 16 spend their day. The children have a range of special needs with many having the social, behavioural and learning difficulties associated with autism.
The six visitors were all able to bring their individual skills into play over the week. Maggie Wilson and Linda Edgell were able to develop the skills of the teachers in assessing the children and preparing future development targets. The staff have become more independent in completing these action plans.
Ian Noble and Sally Perry worked on an exercise video for the children which simplifies the current Sticky Kids CD so it will be more relevant to their needs. The staff tried this out.
The fourth day was a Staff Development Day with a range of sessions from Matt Bingham, Ian Noble, Linda Edgell and Maggie Wilson. Matt trained the staff to use reasonable force to control or restrain pupils using a variety of holds. Ian took the teachers through a series of tasks to help them learn how to use computer tablets to teach the children early mathematical concepts using a variety of apps.
During this time Dee Noble and Sally Perry reviewed the learning resources available and after discussion with the staff revamped and updated the existing learning materials.
The Head of the Specialist Education Team, Doina Tifria said that “all the ladies felt it was our best visit ever in terms of moving things forward for the staff at the centre. This has marked a real change in the way the staff approach their work and frees us up to do wider work for the children, staff and the centre”.
The staff were over-whelmed with the generosity of St Mary's congregation who have made contributions to the collection for the day centre. After buying four tablet computers and a big box of Lego there is still money left in the kitty to do other new work in the future.
A big thank you from Maggie and the gang who went.
Ian Noble, 22 November 2016