According to the numerous scientific researches, the best manner to improve the lives of children with disabilities is to enable them to communicate and socialise and to introduce them to the education process with their peers, through schools and preschool institutions. Sadly, the inclusion of children with medium and heavy mental disabilities is not practised in the regular educational system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, children do not attend regular classes. Special schools are available only to a small number of children with special needs who live in bigger towns. There are currently around 110 children attending Mjedenica, from almost all of Central BiH and wider. A great problem is the lack of capacities but also a lack of financial assets that the state scarcely provides. Innovative work is occuring presently in preschool and the first grade of Mjedenica Institute through an entirely new programme in BiH called KABAS ® by the Columbian University. It is being implemeted with 20 students aged 4 to 8 with different developmental difficulties. For the functioning of this programme, methods are used that have proven efficient in 1000 experiemnts conducted so far.
We present the impressions of volunteering by Johannes Oesterwind, a volunteer of the Institute for Youth Development KULT who spent 5 months volunteering at the Institute for special education of children with special needs at Mjedenica. Johannes is staying in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a part of the programme for German Volunteers in BiH.
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