Life skills for persons with autism are more important than academic knowledge
In Sweden, children with disabilities in special schools officially and on the basis of the curriculum learn only what makes sense for future life, that is, what has practical and usable value in life. Some of the examples are the use of money and payment cards, nice dressing, food preparation, bedding, communication with the environment, use of telephone and the Internet ... Consequently, the lettering and numbers that are most often unreadable are avoided. For example, the goal of mathematics is to teach a child to dial the phone number of his parents.
In Serbia, children with disabilities often learn different mathematical operations, but they do not know how to dial the number on the telephone. There are many other examples. The problem is that in Serbia schools for education of children with disabilities work exclusively on the basis of the "regular" program and programs for primary schools. The general education curriculum is often perceived as inappropriate for students with disabilities, especially for students with the most complex needs. Therefore, in our schools for the education of children with disabilities, the issue of a plan and program is recognized as a significant problem. Former curricula designed for certain types of developmental disorders were better suited to the needs of these children. To some extent, these attitudes reflect the lack of understanding of the essence of IEP and the opportunities it provides, but also the complicated procedures, primarily administrative ones. Education of children with disabilities in "regular" schools is a special problem because professional support is almost always absent.
* The text is taken from our publication, "Recommendations for improving the work of schools for children with disabilities in Serbia", (by the group of authors: dr Nestorov Stevan, prof.dr Nenad Glumbic, dr Violeta Nestorov, prim.dr Ljiljana Abramovic Savic, Jelena Vukic). "Recommendations" are the result of the project "Let´s make our special education schools more European " conducted by the NGO "Family Care" within the Erasmus + program of the European Union.
dr Stevan Nestorov
NGO Family Care, Belgrade
