We are glad to have visited your Special Primary School no.40 in Bytom and seen the way in which you work with children with special educational needs, who have mild and moderate developmental disabilities, whether emotional and/or behavioral.
Croatia has specialized institutions for particular developmental disabilities but in our educational system we don't have an institution which encompasses such a wide and versatile range of children with special needs, as we have seen in your country. In our school there are about 30 children with developmental disabilities who are included in regular school classes. Some of these children have got assistant support.
What really impressed us at the beginning of our arrival was a school play - the effort that children and teachers put in it was easily noticeable. Furthermore, the school atmosphere and halls teemed with laughter, children's conversations, and children's curious looks. Even though your school was built many years ago, its interior is full of light, flowers and displays of children's work. Children walked up to us gladly and our students who participated in the program easily made first contacts with them and exchanged photos and music.
The workshops for students were very interesting and fun. Our students loved the “dirty workshop” in which they made and used molding material as well as the cake baking workshop which took place in Special Vocational school. We’ve noticed that artwork is strongly implemented in your school practice, which is understandable as there are many children who have emotional problems and who come from dysfunctional families. However, we would love to have had an opportunity to observe a teacher’s direct work with children in any daily curricular class.
The visits to Memorial and Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau, Chlebowa Chata and Guido Coal Mine were especially well organized. Krakow, as one of Central Europe’s metropolitan cities, left a special impression on us. Its architecture really reminded us of our capital Zagreb.
We would particularly like to highlight the work of your colleague, a speech therapist, who explained the biofeedback therapy very thoroughly. We all wanted to try it out as patients! This type of therapy for children with special needs is also used in Croatia but it is, unfortunately, accessible only in a somewhat small number of health and educational institutions due to its high price.
It is our impression that your school has developed a positive and safe environment for your students, which reflects in the warmth and immediacy of the children’s behavior. Our students and we have fond memories of children's smiles and hugs in Poland.
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