Transformative Kindergarten Project for Children with Special Needs

1. Grădinița cu Program Prelungit “Dumbrava Minunată” Fieni

2. D. V. - 7 years old - Down Syndrome D. was born affected by Down Syndrome and she frequented our kindergarten since she was 3 years old. Now she is 8 years old and she is student in a special school. In the first years of the kindergarten her behavior was very agitated, she was scared of children and they were avoiding her. During our project implementation, we observed several changes and improvements, that we mention below: After the first year of our project, as benefit of our seminar for children about love and tolerance, the healthy colleagues understood more about the fact that she is a child, just like them, even if she is sick. So, they started to play with her as they would do with some younger colleagues, her mental retard being grave. D. started to be happy, coming to kindergarten with a smiling face and enjoying the fun moments with colleagues. So, she changed from scared and isolated to a happy child that loved playing games with colleagues. This beautiful collaboration helped D to gain drawing and construction skills, learning a lot from her healthy colleagues. Daily, she had a colleague that made team with her and she progressed and befriended everybody in her group.

3. A. L. - 4,5 years old - Hyperkinetic ADHD For his first months in kindergarten, with no medical evaluation, A. had a very tough time with the accommodation. His extra energy was making him to get bored, anxious and extremely angry all the time. He was throwing things and starting conflicts with colleagues daily. Every fury episode was ending with a crying and yelling crisis. He had no language and he was not capable of pronouncing correct not even a single word. We understood that all these problems were making him so angry and frustrated. During our project implementation, using the new methods learned from our partners, we had some notable progress. After our seminars, the parents of the healthy colleagues accepted A in the group, understanding his health problems. We arranged for him a corner where he could calm down when he felt angry and stimulated him to collaborate with the colleagues. Observing his progress, we noted that he was smiling very often, during his play with other children and he made 2 very good friends, having in common the love for construction games. Being part from the traditional dance activity was a big joy for him, this activity satisfying 100% his need to be active. Also, the dramatization activity rehearsal helped him improve his pronunciation and at this moment everybody understands him, even if he still has speech problems.

4. A. N. - 4,5 years old - Asperger Syndrome A. was very isolated child in the first weeks spent in the kindergarten. He was always stressed and avoided any eye contact with children. His attitude towards adults was a little better but was still always trying to be alone and to use all kind of stereotypes in order to calm down (introducing small objects in bottles, running in circles). During our project implementation, we replaced slowly his stereotypes with some interesting activities, together with the colleagues. He enjoyed very much making New Year and Christmas cards for the children in partner countries, being a very skilled boy in art crafts and painting. He also liked the clay activity and sports activity. The most important progress for A. was making friends and feeling happy together with his collaboration was the most important step he made. He made friends that shared the same hobbies, as making puzzles, playing with ball outside, dancing and making all kind of creations in the Arts sector. colleagues. His desire of

5. S. B. - 5 years old - ADHD S. was diagnosed with ADHD and being an easy form, we made very big progresses together, during these 2 years. He was able to participate with success to all the project activities and left behind all the fury and aggression episodes. After our seminars with colleagues, about love and tolerance, the attitude of the colleagues changed, they didn’t avoided him anymore and started to talk with him. The communication between children understanding that everybody wants to play with him and be friends. Being very ambitious, representation during the dramatization activity, he enjoyed the costumes and loved the scene. The most important thing is that his fury episodes disappeared, he loves his colleagues and feels loved by them. was essential for him, he had a very good actor

6. D. N. - 5 years old - Cerebral Paralysis D. suffered a brain trauma at his birth, due to oxygen deprivation that affected his right part of the body irreversible. He was constantly disappointed that he couldn’t have the same performance as his colleagues in drawing, building, painting or sports activity. So he started to refuse to be part in any activity because he felt bad about his problems. Our project activities were the key for him, because these were conceived at special children level. The dramatization, the dance and the sports activity were great activities for him because here everybody made mistakes during rehearsals, because they all needed to learn the dance, the rhymes and the rules and they made a lot of fun during these moments. Finally he was not the only the one mistaking. Everybody was. And he understood that he is not any different from other children. During all the activities we worked in small groups and pairs, so he got help, he also enjoyed helping and the most important feeling was that he finally felt proud of his work, appreciated his products and the colleagues works as well.

7. Conclusions During our project implementation in Grădinița cu Program Prelungit Dumbrava Minunată Fieni, we witnessed some great progresses regarding the feelings and emotions of our special children and we are sure that the project activities and the new methods learned from our partners will help us ensure the progress for the future special children that will come to our kindergarten. The most important changes that we noted are: - from isolation to friendship; - from aggression to collaboration; - from fury and crying to smiling and happiness; - from feeling useless to positive pride and good ambition; - from loneliness to funny moments and many laughs. And we are proud of our children’s progress because this is childhood: friendship, collaboration, smiles, happiness and a lot of games and fun.