The Center of Curative Pedagogy
The center was founded in 1993 by the joint effort of the Pskov City Administration (Russia), the Evangelist Church Community of Wassenberg (Germany), and a local association of parents with disabled children in Pskov (Russia).
Founding Goals
- To promote the development of disabled children through specialized pedagogy.
- To prevent social orphanage. The center’s afternoon program provides an opportunity for parents to take care of their children without sending them to boarding facilities. Parents can work during the day, while children are at the center, and then care for their children at night.
- To integrate children with learning disabilities into the community of Russian children and provide them with an opportunity to attend any school of their choice.
Types of Activities
- Educate and develop children and teenagers with multiple disabilities and facilitate their adjustment to social and work structures.
- Organize events that help to integrate children with disabilities into the broader community: camps, international exchanges, concerts and etc.
- Organize events that support tolerant behavior toward people with disabilities.
- Consult parents about psycho-pedagogical help and therapy for children with disabilities and support cooperation between experts and parents.
- Organize seminars and conferences about the education and social integration of children with multiple disabilities.
- Develop and deliver specialized courses for students of pedagogy.
- Organize exchanges for specialists that work with disabled children, and arrange internships for students of pedagogy.
Educational Goal
Facilitate self-realization of children with special needs during the process of their social integration.
Children
The center offers 48 spots for students between 6 and 18 years old. All children have special developmental conditions that are caused by organic damage to their central nervous systems. As a result, the children have damaged and/or distorted functions of central nervous system, such as perception, thought, attention, memory, speech, and motor skills. Usually the children have not one, but many malfunctions. Nevertheless, they are all included in the educational process. Respecting each child as an individual is fundamental.
Curriculum Goals
- Develop self-awareness.
- Develop skills for self-sufficiency and foster independent living skills
- Develop an understanding of the community at large
- Develop the ability to understand and actively participate in social situations.
- Develop requisite skills for work and play.
Three Sources of Financing
- Donations collected by the Evangelist Church Community of Wassenberg (Germany);
- Budget of the City of Pskov (Russia);
- Individual sponsors that finance specific projects or purchase equipment for the center.