Project Summary
Grantee	: Association of Southeast Private Education Institutions (GUNDER)
Purpose	: Disseminating early childhood special education services through training experts
Location	: Gaziantep, Mardin, Sanliurfa
Grant Amount	: 176.000 TL
Project Partner	: Ankara University Special Education Research and Implementation Center, Association of Support For Persons with Mental Disabilities
Period	: 15 April 2010 - 15 October 2011
Status	: Completed
Project Year	: 2010

Background

Infants and children with special needs lack development when their rehabilitation is postponed which increases their need for special education over time. However if they receive support through early childhood special education services, their development rate increases and the differences between them and their peers decrease so that they can take part in mainstream education. However there are a limited number of experts who are specialized in the area of early childhood. (GUNDER, 2009)

Project Goals

In Mardin, Sanliurfa and Gaziantep:

• 120 graduates of vocational high schools for girls will be trained using the training program of Ankara University Special Education Research and Implementation Center.
• %40 of trained girls will be employed in the area of Early Childhood Special Education.
• 500 people will attend to the seminars to raise awareness on Early Childhood Special Education.

It will create a best model practice in the area of early childhood special education services and will be presented to the decision makers.

Project Results

• Through awareness raising seminars on early childhood special education services, 1.268 local decision makers, families of children with disabilities and vocational school graduates have been reached.
• Government officials and other decision makers were informed about the importance of early childhood education services.
• 461 vocational school graduates applied for the program. 257 of the applicants participated interviews and 119 girls were selected for the training program.
• 119 girls completed the training and 39 of them were employed in special education schools.
• A policy report on the importance of training special education teachers was prepared.

Testimonials

“I am a graduate of Vocational school for Girls and specialized in the area of Child Development. Through the seminars I realized that many things I knew were incorrect. I am so lucky that I had the opportunity to be a part of this course and was able to see my mistakes.”

Perihan Can, Trainee

“Why do I want this job? I am married with kids and I got married at a very early age. But I believe it is never late for anything. I really love kids and want to work in this field. My expectation from these trainins is that it improves the rehabilitation services in the eastern part of our country.”

Sultan Yıldırım, Trainee