Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

Résumé

Ninja Smart empowers adolescents with intellectual disabilities by providing them with learning materials that help them to understand their disability and to better equip them to participate in making decisions in their own lives.  

The initiative to develop the material was taken by a man working at FUB (the Swedish National Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability) who has a mild intellectual disability himself. He stated that people have the right to have knowledge about their own intellectual disabilities. From that statement a basic guiding principle was formed, that in order to be in control of one’s own life, an individual must have information about their disability, about possible strategies to solve daily problems, and about support available in society.

The project used documentary videos and role-playing as its main tools to communicate this information to adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities.

Project object:

• > Produce learning material directed to adolescents with mild to moderate intellectual disability that would give them the knowledge and tools to enable them to participate in making decisions about their own lives.
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• > Create materials that provide the factual information necessary for planning and decision-making, and give concrete examples of how to handle different situations in a positive way.
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• > Present these examples in a documentary form as well as through role-playing in a number of everyday situations where problems can arise.
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> Provide the films with the following options – sign language for the deaf, visual interpretation and Swedish or English text.

Méthodologie

The material is based on theories about empowerment, self- determination and participation in relation to people with intellectual disabilities. These theories are then communicated, keeping in mind that people with intellectual disabilities learn from concrete examples and their own experiences, and that they look for models with which to identify.

Research was carried out to collect important facts, but also to find out how adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities regard their own situation and to hear their opinions about what is important knowledge to be prepared for life after school and for full participation in society. The experiences and the opinions of students and young adults in the target group have been collected through their participation in reference groups and through interviews. The manuscripts for the films were written in co-operation with students from a vocational school. In addition, all the main actors in the films are students with mild intellectual disabilities. Prior to final production the films were sent out to test schools and about 300 students and their teachers have given their point of view.

To ensure that the facts, especially regarding life after school, were not confined to examples from a large metropolitan area, research was carried out in different parts of the country.

Objectif

The initiative was developed for adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities.

Innovation de bonnes pratiques

The material has been warmly welcomed and is now used in most of the programmes for the target group in Sweden. It appeals to the students because of the way it is built on their own desire for information, and because it presents positive role models and recognisable situations. In addition to the main objectives, the material has in some cases been used to enhance inclusion in various schools. It has provided valuable information for students without disabilities and has also been used as source of information for parents.

Réalisation de bonnes pratiques

DVDs Ninja Smart 1 and Ninja Smart 2 and over 40 lectures and conference presentations.

Ninja Smart 1 contains:

- a documentary section about a young man and how he has experienced success in his life;

- a factual section containing interviews with a lawyer, a psychologist, a neuroscientist, a special education teacher and an adult who has good insight in terms of his own intellectual disabilities;

- a section showing smart solutions to some difficult situations in society (money, location and time);

- a story about getting the diagnosis of ‘intellectual disability’ as an adolescent, the thoughts and feelings.

Ninja Smart 2, the film about work and education contains:

- a documentary section about inclusive work;

- a role-playing section showing difficult social situations at work and strategies to handle these situations;

- a documentary section about studying at a Folk Highschool (Folkhögskola);

- a documentary section about vocational training for inclusive work.

Ninja Smart 2, the film about living and leisure contains:

- a documentary section about moving to a supported living situation;

- an animated section about different ways of living;

- an animated section about how to handle personal finances;

- a report about LSS (the Legal Act concerning support and services for people with certain functional impairments);

- a documentary section about inclusive leisure activities;

- examples of different kinds of leisure activities.

Partenaires du projet et autres intéressés

Ninja Smart was produced at ALA – the Research Foundation of the Swedish National Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (known as FUB) in Stockholm. The project was funded by Allmänna Arvsfonden (General Inheritance Fund) and the production of the material was funded by the National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools. Extra funding for the English text subtitles was given by Foundation Sävstaholm.
The project leader for both Ninja Smart 1 and 2 was Cecilia Olsson, FUB (The Swedish National Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability). For Ninja Smart 1 the co-workers in the project group were Conny Bergqvist, FUB and Thomas Myrberg, U.N.G. (Advisory group for adolescents and young adults with disabilities). For Ninja Smart 2 it was Susanne Rydberg-Lif, business controller for support services, Bromma District Committee and Lars Thorsell, ex -supervisor, Häggviks Vocational School.

Évaluation

The initiative has not been formally evaluated although there is a constant request for the material and over 1,000 copies of Ninja Smart 1 and almost 700 copies of Ninja Smart 2 have been distributed. There is also a request for more information and over 40 lectures and conference presentations have been made.

There are plans to involve the material in a scientific study at the University of Linköping. The aim of the study is to find out if training executive functions will enhance functioning in daily activities for people with mild intellectual disability.