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Essential to the child’s development is the empowerment of the parents through active engagement in
therapy sessions. Parents attend regular counselling and training sessions with all disciplines. Further,
there are two meetings per year with all members of the interdisciplinary team. Throughout the week,
all children attend individual sessions with the occupational therapist, speech therapist, special educa-
tionalist, or psychologist.
THE PROBLEM:
Limited availability of Early
Intervention Programmes
In Greece there are very few public welfare and
education services that cater to pre-school-aged
children with special educational needs, and the
availability of parent-counselling services is limited.
For-profit service providers offer only very expensive
early intervention programmes. The few programmes
that are available do not offer an integration support
service to ensure a smooth transition from the special
setting into the mainstream schooling system.
During the last five years public services in Greece
have been inadequately funded due to the country’s
financial crisis in general and to a lack of specialized
staff members. Consequently, fewer children with
disabilities are diagnosed at an early age. In addition,
the waiting lists for diagnosis through the national
health system can be as long as six months – a
critical waiting time for young children with difficulties
who need immediate care.
THE DEVELOPED SOLUTION:
A careful preparation for inclusion
The goal of the Early Intervention Programme is to
support the inclusion of as many children as possible
in mainstream kindergartens and elementary schools
by providing intensive intervention from an interdis-
ciplinary team – both on-site in groups and individual
programmes, and offsite with integration support.
The target group is children two to six years with
diagnoses such as developmental delay, immaturity,
language disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, and/or other
learning difficulties. The children must have a valid
diagnosis from a government service. The children’s
parents should be subscribed to the national social
security system, but this is not mandatory since
a certain number of children from disadvantaged
families without social security are admitted per year.
Members of these families are usually long-term
unemployed or are uninsured by the social security
system. Over the years, the Foundation has accepted
children from a nearby orphanage.
An interdisciplinary team covering all areas of
development (behaviour, speech, communication,
movement, daily living skills, cognitive skills, emotions,
play) assesses each child. Once the child has enrolled
and attended the programme for a short while, the
interdisciplinary team prepares the Individual Edu-
cation Program. Long- and short-term goals are set,
based on internationally recognised developmental
milestones for young children. The goals are worked
upon during both classroom and one-to-one sessions.
They are frequently assessed and, if completed, new
goals are set. If there is a lack of progress, the issue
of how to adapt methods and techniques in order to
help the child achieve the desired goals is discussed
in detail.
ABOUT GREECE:
The crisis is not over yet
A member of the European Union, Greece is
a parliamentary republic in which the Presi-
dent, elected by Parliament every five years,
acts as a Head of State. The Prime Minister
is the Head of Government, and the Ministe-
rial Council is the collective decision-making
body that constitutes the government. Greece
has a population of approximately 11 million
people, and the main industries are tourism
and shipping. The latest Human Development
Index ranks Greece in 29th place, with a per
capita gross domestic product of $24,524.
During the global financial crisis the Greek
economy collapsed, and by 2013 the economy
had contracted 26 percent compared with
the pre-crisis level of 2007. Under intense
pressure from the EU and international market
participants, the government accepted a bail-
out programme that forced Athens to cut gov-
ernment spending; to decrease tax evasion;
to overhaul the civil service, health care, and
pension systems; and to reform the labour and
product markets. This process is still ongoing.