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The Foundation uses all the teaching material and
toys that are traditionally used in mainstream pre-
schools plus materials recommended for children with
developmental disabilities, such as communication
boards/books, visual schedules and rules, sensory in-
tegration equipment, and computer-based education-
al games. The teaching programme is supported by
various visual aids, depending on the level of the child:
for example, object symbols, photographs, drawings,
Makaton symbols.
FUNDING:
Foundation funding supported
by public budgets
The Early Intervention Programme is one of the
programmes of the Theotokos Foundation, and all
Foundation expenses are covered by the same fund-
ing sources. These are:
• An annual government grant from the supervising
Ministry of Labour, Social Security, and Welfare,
covering 15 percent of total expenses.
• The National Health Services Provider Organization,
which covers a daily rate per service user, as well
as the disability benefits from the parents’ social
security.
Together, this covers 56.5 percent of total expenses.
The remaining costs (approximately 30 percent)
are covered by donations from charities and private
individuals. Children attending special schools/cen-
tres receive a government grant of €40 per day of
attendance (€8,690 per year).
If a child with special needs attends the general
schooling system, the cost per student in pre-school
and primary school is €3,763 per year. For secondary
school it is €5,009 per year (Hellenic Statistical Au-
thority, 2011). During schooling, a child with disabilities
would need to be supported by afternoon therapy
programmes, which triggers an additional cost of
€4,680 per year, to be covered by the government
(until the age of 18), for which the government pays a
maximum of €440 per month for all therapies.
OUTLOOK:
Further cooperations are desired
Due to the overall economic situation of Greece in
general, funding continues to be a barrier for the
future development of the Early Intervention Pro-
gramme. The annual government grant from the
supervising Ministry of Labour, Social Security, and
Welfare has been severely reduced in recent years;
and since the Theotokos Foundation is a non-profit
organization, its sources of income are restricted to
the government grant, some coverage from social
security payments, and from parents and donations.
In order to grow, the Foundation hopes to establish
a collaboration with the neighbouring municipality of
Ilion as an ongoing practice. The Foundation aims to
conduct screening tests in all of the municipality’s
childcare centres on a yearly basis. In this way, the
Foundation can ensure the earlier detection of chil-
dren at risk and will increase the number of children in
the offered programmes.
The Foundation believes that its practice can be
readily adopted by other organizations and by other
countries.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
Regular monitoring shows high
rates of satisfaction
• Currentlym there are two groups of six
children each.
• Each group has one pre-school teacher.
• There are eight therapy staff members
and three enrichment programme staff
members.
• Individualized Education Programme goal
achievement success rates:
2012–2013 89.3%
2013–2014 72.5%
2014–2015 82.5%
• The monitoring mechanisms in place are
based on ISO 9001:2008 and on the Euro-
pean Platform for Rehabilitation EQUASS
Quality Assurance Certifications. As an
organization, the Theotokos Foundation is
evaluated every two years by an external
ISO auditor.