Busca. The primary school of the “Giosuè Carducci” Comprehensive Institute in Busca has recently made headlines for a valuable inclusion project.
In fact, in two classes, attended by a boy and a girl with visual impairment, all the little students learned braille, the alphabet with raised dots used by blind people. The initiative was promoted by the teaching staff who saw this disability as a stimulus and enrichment for the entire class group. “This is how the “Braille Friend” project – the teachers report – created in collaboration with the Visual Rehabilitation Center of Fossano, a reality in which, on behalf of the ASL Cuneo 1, professionals and volunteers from the UICI (Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired) of Cuneo work, with the president Nives Torta, supported by the UICI regional of Turin.”
“The project consisted of 6 classroom lessons lasting two hours each, in which the students were able to experiment firsthand through games, structured and specific materials such as tablets and awls.
in the use of an alternative communication code. Conducting it, supported by the curricular teachers, was the typphlologist educator Marco Rosso, who works at the Visual Rehabilitation Center of Fossano, the provincial reference for people with visual disabilities (visually impaired and blind). The CRV of Fossano represents a territorial excellence on a medical level because it carries out individual rehabilitation and habilitation interventions for blind people of all ages” the teachers explained to Cuneo24.
The choice of the project is motivated by the need to promote communication and understanding within the class among all classmates, through knowledge of the Braille code, previously unknown to the children. “Convinced of the enormous power of relationships and collaboration in the learning process, with this project the class group has transformed itself into an important resource for dealing with disability” the teachers continue.
The objective of the “Friend Braille” project was to arouse empathy towards others through an inclusive experience to promote awareness and awareness. The intent was not only to transmit information and
theoretical knowledge, but also to promote a deeper and more personal understanding of the issue of diversity. Step by step, the students were led to read and write with dots in a fun way and then be able to communicate directly with their partner. Learn the Braille reading-writing system, made up of 26 signs corresponding to the Italian alphabet, through structured games, practical activities and graduated exercises with a tablet and awl and with darkening eye patches.
“The children welcomed the project with enthusiasm. For everyone it represented a great opportunity to compare themselves with others, and understand that personal differences and fragilities can be transformed into resources. Only thanks to differences can we grow richer every day” say the teachers.
In conclusion: “Inside the classroom, Braille is currently used to label environments and spaces, environments are modified with Braille writing, and shared posters are created in the dual language. The blind students felt more understood in their needs and in the difficulties they encounter in daily life, in a journey of growth and awareness. The families appreciated the project as an opportunity for stimulation, openness and discussion with others“.
The same project was also carried out in a primary school complex of the IC of Saluzzo.
“A project of this kind can only be a model – commented the president of the UICI (Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired) of Cuneo, Nives Torta – The children involved will certainly develop particular attention and sensitivity towards disabilities and will probably, in their future, contribute to building a more equal and inclusive society. We hope that other schools will follow the example of the Busca Institute and choose to start similar paths”.
Satisfaction also in the words of the director of the Institute, Davide Martini who declared to Cuneo24: “For my part, I would like to say that the presence of children with specific needs at school has brought a unique and precious opportunity for all the children in the school. This important educational and didactic heritage is undoubtedly the work of the passionate work of the teachers, but also of an essential collaboration with the CRV and with the families, but above all of the intelligence and sensitivity of “our” children.”
Congratulations also arrived from Mayor Ezio Donadio with Education Councilor Lucia Rosso: “Congratulations to teachers, students and families for this uplifting initiative. It is not the first time that the comprehensive institute directed by Davide Martini stands out for cutting-edge educational projects, a sign of a stimulating environment of which the entire Busco community is proud”.
