The team of the Arzamas orphanage surprised us with its willingness to learn from experience and desire to create better conditions for the development of children. There are children with the most severe developmental disorders. Apparently, they wait moms and dads all their lives. Life becomes much better when each child has its own mother – a specialist, who becomes a support.
Summing up the interim results of the pilot project “Portage” in the Arzamas orphanage since September, 2018 until January, 2019. Maria Almanova, a consultant on the “Portage” method of Diema’s Dream Fund shared:
“In 2 branches of 3 teams were formed. Each team consists of 5 specialists trained in the “Portage” method. At the first stage of individual work with 15 children with impaired psychophysical development. The distribution of children among specialists, the formation of friendly partnerships, the establishment of an initial development profile in the list of basic data, the selection of initial learning goals and the further planning of skills development were assumed. The specialists also needed to learn how to use the basic materials of the “Portage” method.
For several months of the pilot project in the orphanage, the specialists of the “Portage” teams carried out a lot of work, thanks to which they: learned to determine the level of children’s development using the Checklist and fill in its columns correctly, for further selection of skills formation; use activity cards, and, most importantly, gained some experience in applying the “Portage” method and achieved successful results in developing the necessary skills in children.
Weekly, team members summed up the skills of children, discussing current issues and making decisions. Serious responsibility for organizing work in a project falls on the shoulders of team leaders. In addition, their responsibilities include completing interim reports on the children’s success in the pilot project based on personal observations, activity tables, and team meeting minutes. And, as a result, the project manager and team leaders of the orphanage cope well with the documentation of the pilot project, which allows you to track the dynamics of each child’s skills during the entire period.
During the pilot project in the orphanage, 15 children aged 7 to 9 years old acquired 49 skills from all areas of the Checklist: child stimulation – 5, socialization – 18, self-care – 5, cognition – 17, physical activity – 3, communicative activity -one. And this is not all the results. Currently, children are learning 41 more skills. Thanks to them, children will be able to maximally adapt to everyday life, serving themselves independently and improving their communication skills.
I especially want to note the attitude of the specialists who relate to their work with full responsibility, with a desire to learn and use everything in practice, thereby providing invaluable assistance to children.
I believe that all 3 teams are ready to continue the work of the pilot project.”
