Lifelong Learning Programme

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Success Stories

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TITLE OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Pictures In My Heart
COUNTRY WHERE IT TOOK PLACE
Turkey
AUTHOR OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Headmaster
SCHOOL TYPOLOGY
Primary school
THEMATIC AREA
Students with learning difficulties
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Enes is 9 and lives with his older brother, mother and father in Bursa. He studies 2. class although he should be 3. class because of grade repetition of 2. class. His mother Nermin Hanım is a housewife, father Kenan Bey is an administrator at an official institution. His brother Onur is 11 years old and 5. class student and contrary to Enes, he is loved one, appreciated by his teachers because of his achievements. Though the father Kenan Bey always compares the successes of Enes and Onur, their brotherhood relations never deteriorated. They are tied to each other with love and admiration. While his father punishes, gives scolding for, offends, punishes Enes because of being lazy, his mother tries to understand, listen to, feel him. This situation always disturbs Kenan Bey. So, his father and mother often discuss and live unhappy days. In addition to this situation at home, at school, Enes is punished, scolded, and humiliated by his teacher and peers. In spite of grade repetition, Enes cannot write, read fluently, many of the letters correctly and mixes up similar letters, he cannot concentrate on something for a long time, cannot make the jobs that requires balance. At the same time, in math courses, he is in trouble with the numbers and he cannot get on well with classmates and shows attacker behaviors in class. Enes’s teacher always complains about Enes to parentsbecause of his behaviors in both social and academic areas and discipline problems at school. Enes who is unhappy and disturbed at school, tries to find relief at streets. If he does not do his homework, he does not go to school and he gets used to miss classes. A letter is received from school because of Enes’s failure about attendance, Kenan Bey hears complaint that supports his ideas about his son. The approaches of Kenan Bey towards his son, is still the same. This situation causes Enes’s remain silent absolutely. His teacher goes to another school and a new teacher Fatih Bey comes to school temporarily. Fatih Bey has graduated from intellectual disability department and educated intellectual disabled students at schools. Fatih Bey begins to realize the difference of Enes in a short time. He wonders the real cause behind Enes’s attendance problem. He often talks to Enes personally, researches his files and behaviors that has acted since past years and finds out that Enes is dyslexia. Fatih Bey gets communication number of his parents and sets up a meeting with Kenan Bey. When Fatih Bey visits them at their house, he tells them the development file, the problems and how they should behave Enes, in a detailed way. However Kenan Bey doesn’t want to accept this situation. He says that Enes is not a stupid student and if he sends him to a private school this act can damage his image, so, all of the doors are closed for Fatih Bey. After all these things, Kenan Bey begins to behave Enes worse than older times. Enes breaks all relations with people and is used to speak no more. Fatih Bey wants to do something for his student who doesn’t attend courses anymore and keeps on trying to convince the parents. After he promises them for not tell anyone, not send him to GRC (guidance and research center) and he says he works with Enes personally and finally they let him what he wants to do. The headmaster gives them a separated room and they work every day personally after the school. During this time Fatih Bey is the best friend of Enes. Though Kenan Bey accepts the support, he never loves, interests or gives moral support. The development begins to appear slowly. Fatih Bey realizes that Enes is interested in picture and he has ability and is talented about painting. Fatih Bey pays the fees of paints and Enes makes pictures on the walls of school, this enables him to have the feeling of being appreciated and successful step by step. At the same time, this work requires long time, Enes continues to school in the ordinary way. He is used to be a self-confident student. There is development not only in this area, also in academic area, he can read and write, gets on well with numbers spontaneously. On having success in international competitions Kenan Bey begins to change his ideas and mental image of Enes in time, starts approach him and spend time with him. He is not ashamed of Enes as yet, even boasts about his achievements. Enes who is loved appreciated and being considered as a good student, never gives up attending courses.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The main reasons of success story, even it is late, like former teacher does, instead of searching the deeper cause of problems, complaining about the student, are being disturbed because of unexpected, undesired behaviors and trying to find out uncovered causes. Another reason of success is reaching the main cause of unhappiness and failure with the help of this system. It is seen that failure and nonattendance feed each other. In this story, there is no suspicion that at this school, guidance services are not applied in an appropriate way and level. Guidance teacher Sevilay Hanım is interested in only the academic development; never dig the real causes of failure out. Even if the teacher cannot support Enes himself, he should direct him to guidance service. All of them only fasten end result of Enes and make worse the situation he is in. the main target of Fatih Bey is to solve a nonattendance problem but on this way he realizes a dyslexia event. At that point he makes many meetings with both parents and administration in order to have supports of them. When he understands that parents don not join him, he tries to have help from administration. Owing to separated, special room that they worked together in, he can accomplish something. He tries to make Enes overcome inappropriate behaviors and opinion towards classmates, teachers and school, with the help of techniques that he applies. As an extra positive thing to this, they discovered the natural ability of Enes. Painting talent is to be considered as an important factor in Enes’s success in academic and social life. Symposiums and education should be set up for the parents of students that need special education. They should be acknowledged about the problem that their children may have and what to do or not. A bridge should be built between parents, children and social environment. Owing to Adey system, even after student is graduated, by following them, a connection can be set between the children need special education and parents who are at the beginning of this way. And so, they can come together and learn success stories. The system that separates children need special education from peers and working personally, leads to questioning. There are some hypothesis related to this. This does not overlap with human rights. The difference between special education and maintained school is not so significant as it is thought; many of effective teaching methods work on all students. Some requirements that student needs special education is met better in public schools when it is compared to special education institutions.

20 December 2014

Final Partners’ meeting

The fourth partners’ meeting took place in Florence (IT) on 15 December 2014. The meeting had the objective to check the activities carried out since the third meeting of the project and share and assess the in progress results. A special focus has been dedicated to the presentation of the strategies to solve the case scenarios.