Dear readers,
MSSA team
Dear readers,
MSSA team
Respected colleagues,
It is a great honor and pleasure for me on behalf of the Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism to invite you to the international conference entitled “People with Autism in the Spotlight – Support through Person Centered Planning”, which will be held on August 25th 2021, on the platform ZOOM starting exactly at noon CET.
This conference is a final event of the 3-year project “A holistic approach to person-centered planning for Autism” (AUTISM_PCP), from the Erasmus + program of the European Commission, with reference number 2018-1-EL01-KA204-047788.
The specific goal of the event is to promote the person-centered planning methodology adapted for people (including children) with autism, which has been developed as a key result of the work of the Autism PCP international consortium in the past three years. Although the main implications relate to social services, the benefits of applying individual-oriented planning in education are particularly significant, especially in the educational transitions of students with autism.
MSSA in the last 17 pandemic months continuously raise bots on educating professionals and parents of children and people with autism spectrum disorder, and will continue to do so in the coming period. This international conference, which will be attended by lecturers from the United States, Australia, Cyprus, Greece and Macedonia, is only one part of that overall educational activity, which will continue in the future.
If you want to take part, it is mandatory to sign up and fill in the Google Form at the following link: https://forms.gle/AgeUC2zq1UXR5XKN7
You can apply by August 20th of this year at the latest. Participation is without paying a registration fee. The conference will be certified, and to get a certificate you need to be present on the ZOOM platform from the very beginning to the end of it.
We will be very glad if you also take part in this important international conference.
05.08.2021 With respect,
Skopje President of MSSA
Target Audience of the Project:
Individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. They are usually trained using visual materials with special education methods such as one-on-one and face-to-face. For this reason, parents and caregivers of these individuals have also been identified as target audiences to provide special education opportunities.
The Objectives of the Project to be achieved are as follows:
– To ensure that individuals with autism and intellectual disability can communicate with the right people after disasters and emergencies,
– To ensure that they display the correct behaviour shapes to stay safe,
– To integrate these individuals into the disaster and emergency management system,
– To increase the professional knowledge and skills of the project partners and related participants.
The final goals as a policy are:
It is aimed to affect the policies and programs that can be developed in order to overcome the deficiencies in disaster and emergency awareness training and rehabilitation of disabled individuals including autism and intellectual disability.
Content of the Project:
1- Dictionary of disaster and emergency basic terms adapted for individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities and prepared with special teaching methods,
2- Educational content consisting of video, animation and digital books that teach correct behaviours after disasters and emergencies,
3- Digital library for disasters and emergencies prepared specifically for these individuals,
4- The correct behaviours of the personnel working in disasters and emergencies in their approach to these individuals.
Project Partnership:
The project partnership was created by bringing together organizations with different expertise in disaster and emergency situations, autism and down syndrome, distance education, disability, design, education, risk management and innovation in line with the subjects and objectives.
1- Eskişehir AFAD, public body, experienced in disaster awareness training, response and evacuation in disasters and emergencies.
2- Osmangazi University, experienced in distance education, innovative design and user interface solutions.
3- YERSİS is an educational consultancy company that researches the issue of accessibility among individuals with special needs during disasters and emergencies.
4- Tohum Autism Foundation is a non-profit and in the public interest healthcare and education foundation in the field of autism.
5- Down Syndrome Association is a non-governmental organization that works to ensure that individuals with Down syndrome can establish an independent, productive and integrated life.
6- EDSA is an umbrella NGO that brings together 38 national organizations across Europe.
7- MSSA is an NGO established to realize, coordinate and carry out the interests and training of people with autism.
8- The Research Center on Disability and Marginality (CeDisMa) of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart works to develop knowledge for teachers, educators, trainers, coordinators, social workers in the field of special education.
Outputs of the Project:
1- Adapted Disaster and Emergency Basic Concepts Dictionary for Individuals with Autism and Intellectual Disability
2- Distance Education Portal
3- Digital Library
Project activities:
Preparation Process;
1. Working meetings with relevant organizations and associated partners (universities, NGOs on autism and intellectual disability, etc.)
2. Visits to special education and rehabilitation centres.
3. Literature review, research and data collection.
The implementation process;
1. Transnational Project Meetings.
– Project management, distribution of tasks among partners, time and financial management etc. administrative issues.
– Sharing experience, good practices and know-how for intellectual output production.
2. Output development process.
Dissemination Process;
– Project Workshop as a Multiplier Event; Both the evaluation of the quality of the project outputs and the promotion of the project results.
– Workshop’s online web platform.
– To hold project introduction meetings with related institutions, to attend workshops, fairs and to open stands.
– To organize training seminars at the local and transnational level within the scope of the multiplier event.
– To prepare promotional brochures about project activities and results in order to increase the visibility in printed, visual and social media.
– To send and distribute digital outputs to the relevant institutions in printed and digital formats.
– Preparing scientific articles about project activities and results.
– To ensure that the project outputs and results affect the policies and programs to be developed in this regard through the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
Dear readers,
With great pleasure we want to announce that we got the new #Erasmusplus project togethter with partners from Malta, Spain and Belgium. The title of the project is Autism Friendly Spaces.
The main aim of this project is to create a change in community by :
Online modules specifically for school educators will be created. A certificate will be
provided once the modules are complete. Providing professional guidance to modify school space into an accessible and safe space for students with autism.
President of MSSA
Dear colleagues,
We are glad to announce that we signed a cooperation agreement between UNICEF MK and Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism on the project entitled: “Autism Social Skills and Positive Parenting Program. It is a small scale funding agreement and the duration of the project will be one year. With this, our NGO will help again to the children with #autism in Macedonia and their families as well. We are working in continuum 19 years on the improvement of the quality of life of those vulnerable category of our citizens. I would like to express my gratitude to all involved persons in this first stage of the project. We hope that the final results of the project will satisfied families who have children with autism.
President of MSSA
Dear colleagues,
Second Autism PCP project meeting was held on 2nd and 3rd May, in Bucharest, Romania. Participating Organisations were D.A.D.A.A, Maendeleo for Children Aps, Scoala Gimnaziala Smaranda Gheorghiu, Cyclisis, ShipCon Limassol Limited and Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism.
The subject of this transnational meeting was finalizing Intellectual Output 1a with focus on transitions. All participating organizations reported the national context regarding best practices on autism as well as common strategies identified via the questionnaire. Future tasks distribution and time table were discussed.
Next project meeting will be held in September, in Rome, Italy.
Vice-president of MSSA
Dear colleagues,
I want to inform you that we realized the first meeting of #AutismPCP priject from December 11th to December 12th in Patras, Greece. Twelve participants from 6 partners countries (Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romaina, Italy and Macedonia) attended there. Participating Organisations were:
Partners have presented their organizations. Than presentation of project design, work plan, time table, distribution of tasks and responsibilities, were discussed. Also dissemination plan, further dissemination activities/specific tasks, website, social media, leaflet, logo, were subject of this meeting. Autism Life Planning Tools and Intellectual Output with focus on O1 were topics as well.
Next transnational meeting will held in Romania in May 2019.
President of MSSA
Objectives: A three-year European Union-funded project has been established involving family members, professionals and academics. Its objectives are to develop a core parent autism education curriculum and locally appropriate parent education materials and methods; to provide parent education in three diverse south-eastern European countries (Croatia, Cyprus and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) where diagnosis and service provision are emergent; to develop local parent education teams within these countries to ensure sustainability; and to evaluate the impact of the parent education events upon families attending.
Methods: After reviewing the literature and surveying parental priorities in the three countries, a 12-hour parent education programme and locally differentiated training materials were developed. In total, five cohorts of approximately 20 parents each will receive parent education within each of the three countries. A combined process and outcome mixed methods evaluation methodology (Royse et al 2009) is being used to evaluate the project. Data are gathered via pre-attendance, post-attendance and follow-up (3-month) parent questionnaires – incorporating the CarerQoL quality of life scale (Hoefman et al 2014) – from all participants, semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of parents, trainer focus groups and reflective diaries, and document analysis. We here report on quantitative (n = 108) and qualitative data (n = 20) from parent cohorts 1 and 2.
Results: Quantitative data identify that >90% of respondents have improved their understanding of autism, >80% report improved child communication and >75% report improvements in overall family life, their ability to predict their child’s behaviour and their ability to respond to concerns and comments from the broader family. Carer QoL data indicate increased parental happiness following attendance (p=.001). Key themes from qualitative data are the positive impact of attending the parent education programme, increased awareness regarding sensory and communication issues and improvements in everyday life. Parents also reported that attendance provided opportunities to meet other parents and reduced social isolation.
Conclusions: Data from parent cohorts 1 and 2 identify that parents who have attended the parent education programme have found it beneficial, and that it has had a positive impact on their family life. Key areas of impact have been improvements in communication and improved management of sensory and behavioural issues. This supports the continued and wider provision of parent education within these countries. Further data from cohorts 3 and 4 will have been collected and analysed by the time of INSAR 2018.
Source: INSAR