Meeting with Perkins school representatives

On February 10, 2023, a meeting with Darija Udovicic, Director of the Perkins school for Europe and Eurasia, and Sonja Alimovic, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation of the University of Zagreb (Croatia), was held at the Education and Research Laboratory of the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Abai KazNPU. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the DARA Foundation.

Perkins school is the oldest school in the United States, which in the early 19th century began educating blind and deaf-blind children. The school is famous for the fact that its first headmaster, Samuel Gridley Howe, based on the Braille system, was the first in the world to teach a deaf-blind girl, Laura Bridgman. The Perkins school now operates in many countries in Europe and Asia, coordinating numerous national and international projects which provide highly specialised and integrated services for children with visual impairments and other multiple disabilities, as well as deaf-blind children and young people.

Darija Udovicic and Sonja Alimovic have extensive experience in the field of multiple disabilities, visual impairment and deaf-blindness, and are involved in UNICEF projects that have led to changes in the legal framework in Croatia for children with disabilities.

The director of the institute, Abaeva Galija, informed the guests about models of support for children with multiple disabilities and with visual impairments in our country. Head of the Department of Special Pedagogy Akbota Autaeva spoke about the training system for this sector. The parties discussed cooperation and partnership, participation in professional conferences and seminars, opportunities for collaborative research and expertise.