Development of Educational Materials for Special Needs Children and Teacher Training, St. Petersburg

Location:St.-Petersburg, Russia
Name of implementing organization:Jewish Family Center Adain Lo
Date of initial project approval:November 2005

Brief description of the local Jewish community

 

• Number of Jews: 100.000
• Local Jewish schools, and other Jewish organizations: 5 schools, 9 kindergartens, Judaica Institute, Jewish Welfare Center Hesed Avraham, Jewish Community Center, Hillel, Jewish Family Center Adain Lo, Jewish Newspaper, Religious Community, and nearly 10 other Jewish organizations.
• Major recent changes in the community (if any): Community is in transition to self sustainability. Local fundraising in 2008 grew 100% compared with 2007.

 

Project aims and objectives

To develop educational materials for children with special needs, and to provide teachers with training in special education.

Project Description

A text book of 86 Social Stories in Russian covering main topics of Jewish Traditions was created and published in 100 copies. It is supplemented with a CD, which contains 70 Jewish symbols. Parents and teachers use the book for teaching children with special needs and for introducing young children to Jewish Tradition as well. Materials are available on the website www.havura.net

30-hours of in-service training in special education for teachers was attended by 26 teachers.

Main budget elements

 

• Salaries for development of the text book and the symbols
• Printing costs
• Lecturers for teachers' training
• Stipends for participants

 

The project's successes

Project fulfilled

Difficulties encountered along the way

Project completion was delayed because of unavoidable financial difficulties.