On 2nd and 3rd April, Olga Ivanova, lecturer at the Department of Pedagogy and Pedagogical Psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, took part in the First All-Russian workshop on the problems of children with autism spectrum conditions.
About 200 specialists from 50 Russian Federation subjects took part in the Workshop. The participants were greeted by the Voronezh region governor Aleksey Gordeev, who has been for several years actively supporting the project "Autism. Routes of Help" run by the Foundation for solving autism problems in Russia since February 2013.
The objective of the Workshop was to discuss the possibilities for systematic help and support of children with autism spectrum conditions and other problems. On 2nd April, the plenary meeting saw reports by the representatives of federal and local authorities, as well as by the specialists and researches from various regions working on the problem. Specialist from various parts of Russia shared their experience in organising interdepartmental cooperation while working on the problem.
All the participants admitted the importance of specialist teaching in the sphere of psychology for special needs and special needs education. One possible solution to the problem is the further development of the "Psychology for special needs and special needs education" programme at Voronezh State University. Such specialists are required at various institutions specialising in diagnostics, rehabilitation, adaptation, and teaching children with special needs.
On 3rd April, the participants visited several institutions in Voronezh that implement measures for complex help to children with autism spectrum conditions. Olga Ivanova visited the Centre for Mental Health at the children's out-patient centre № 11, supervised by the Department of Pedagogy and Pedagogical Psychology.
