Exchange Visit in Partnership with the State Diagnostic and Counseling Center, Iceland

After a two-year postponement, specialists from Karin Dom successfully conducted their second visit to Iceland to exchange experience with the partner organization – State Diagnostic and Counseling Center (SDCC).

In fulfillment of the objectives of the visit to Iceland, our specialists visited various services for children, youth and adults with special needs – some of the leading ones in the country. They became closely acquainted with the work of a modern rehabilitation and occupational therapy state-supported center, an association of chronically ill children, the National Institute for Children and Persons with Visual and Hearing Impairments, special schools, kindergartens, centers and school programs for summer activities.

Our team was impressed with the services and resources provided to families and other professionals who work with the child. All of them work not only to make the child independent and happy, but above all to stimulate his participation in the life of the community. The environment, the support from the state and above all the teamwork between all the specialists around the family – doctor, kindergarten/school and therapists – make an impression. Services are available that support the family and make it confident and calm in everyday life!

This visit was not only beneficial from an exchange of experience point of view, but it also allowed us to see how we measure up as the methods and approaches of working in these services in Iceland are actually applied in the daily work of our specialists at Karin Dom. It is the exchange of experience and good practices over the years that have enabled us to introduce and adapt new and innovative practices for working with children.

Based on this exchange of experiences and the opportunity to see how inclusive education works in Iceland, we were able to adopt good practices and introduce new approaches to work. We developed methods and guidelines for working with children with special needs, prepared a detailed comparative analysis, piloted a service and a number of trainings for specialists and parents.

As a result of all our efforts and activities, we held a Round Table in the city of Sofia, at which our team addressed to responsible institutions recommendations for changing policies in the field of inclusive education.

See the recommendations around which civil organizations, specialists and parents have united!

The project “Transfer of practices to improve support for children with special needs and their families for inclusive education” is financed by the Bulgaria Active Citizens Fund under the Financial Mechanism of the EEA 2014-2021.

The project partner is the State Diagnostic and Counseling Center (SDCC), Iceland.

All responsibility for the content of the published information is borne by the Karin Dom Foundation and under no circumstances is to be assumed that it reflects the official opinion of the FM of the EEA and the Operator of the Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund.