EDUCATIONAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
SERVICES FOR DEAF PEOPLE
The Institute of the Deaf of Turin provides a wide and articulated individual educational service at schools, at home and in the area of residence of deaf children and young people, even with associated pathologies.
The service is provided under an agreement or accreditation with the managing bodies of the social welfare functions, inter-municipal consortia, municipalities, mountain communities, ASL / ATS, schools and universities, in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions.
The educational intervention is conducted by qualified and specialized Educators as Communication and Autonomy Assistants, in full compliance with the methodological guidelines expressed by the family, in a network with other social-welfare and health operators and according to the integrated approach proposed by the classification. ICF.
The territorial education services are also carried out in favor of:
- Deaf adults with specific needs related to sociability, independent life and job placement
- Minors and adults with genetic syndromes associated with sensory disabilities (Charge syndrome, Waanderburg syndrome, Husher syndrome).
Contact person: Luisa Accardo
Contact: educativa@istitutosorditorino.org
Contact for services in Lombardy: milano@istitutosorditorino.org
SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH COMMUNICATION DISABILITIES
Learning Signs. When LIS meets BES
The Istituto dei Dordi di Torino offers an innovative individual service for minors and adults with communication disabilities, which involves the use of Sign Language to support their communicative development. Sign Language is normally associated with deaf people, but in reality it should be more correctly associated with the whole of humanity, which in fact has used it, in different contexts and eras, even within hearing communities. Modern studies on the acquisition of language confirm this "universality" of sign languages: today we know, for example, that language is completely independent of the auditory-phonatory modality, rather than the visual gestural one. We also know that there is a "genetic" continuity between visual-gestural and oral communication modalities and that multimodality is in our nature and is a great wealth and opportunity. As a result, Sign Language is potentially a highly effective tool not only for deaf students, but for a much larger school population (and beyond).
The projects carried out so far have involved people with autism spectrum syndrome, with Down syndrome, with dyspraxia, with intellectual disabilities and other communication and language disorders.
The main functions recognized to sign language in these projects are the following:
Replacement function, some children do not speak, for very different reasons, not always connected with a lesion in the brain areas responsible for language. In these cases the LIS can have a substitute function of the absent or seriously deficient oral language, thanks for example to the greater iconicity inherent in many signs, to the greater simplicity of execution compared to orality, to the presence of gestures even in the first communication between mothers. and child
Integrative function of verbal support, children with SEN, more than others, often need multimodal inputs. These modalities can be visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and sign language is a perfect tool for providing visual stimuli in addition to verbal / auditory input. Indeed, when there is a shortage in a given area, one modality can provide the basis for the development of another. In this case the LIS can become a "scaffolding" that supports, promotes and reinforces the acquisition and development of the oral language.
Social function, children with SEN can experience frustration when communicating is difficult. Frustration manifests itself in possible aggression, isolation, depression or other socially unacceptable behavior. Sign language reduces this frustration by providing a way to express oneself and communicate, breaking the communication barriers between children with and without difficulty, also promoting a better communication exchange and greater direct interaction without adult mediation.
Inclusive function, LIS can stimulate the expression on the visual-gestural modality in all children, enhancing some cognitive areas including attention, discrimination and visual memory. Young children develop general motor skills in advance of the fine ones needed for oral language, therefore signs provide a stimulation that reinforces vocabulary development in all children.
Contact peolpe: Luisa Accardo
Contact: educativa@istitutosorditorino.org
SERVICES FOR BLIND AND PROOFED PERSONS
The Institute of the Deaf of Turin provides a wide and articulated individual educational service at schools, at home and in the territory of residence of blind and partially sighted minors and young people, even with associated pathologies.The service is provided under an agreement or accreditation with the bodies managing the social welfare functions, inter-municipal consortia, municipalities, mountain communities, ASL / ATS, schools and universities, in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions.
The educational intervention is conducted by qualified and specialized Educators as Communication and Autonomy Assistants, in full compliance with the methodological guidelines expressed by the family, in a network with other social-welfare and health operators and according to the integrated approach proposed by the classification. ICF.
The possibility of using various methodologies is envisaged: teaching Braille, use of assistive technologies and speech synthesis, construction of tactile books, paths of autonomy, basal stimulations for complex disability associated with the visual one.
Training and tutoring courses are also possible for schools that welcome students with visual impairments. The courses for teachers are accredited to the Miur.
The Institute is also a member of ENVITER, the European new work of professionals working in the visual disability sector (https://www.enviter.eu/) and therefore involved in numerous European projects in the sector, for research and lifelong learning. of educators, teachers and families.
Contacts people: Barbara Deusebio and Cristina Gallino
Contact: sediv@istitutosorditorino.org
PRIMARY SCHOOL
"Father Antonio Loreti"
The "Padre Antonio Loreti" kindergarten is an equal school, with an agreement with the Municipality of Pianezza, which traditionally has always paid attention to language development by welcoming deaf and hearing children, precisely because it is the heir of the historic nursery school for deaf children. (existing since the second half of the 19th century).
The school is managed by the Institute of the Deaf of Turin with the aim of ensuring the full realization of the right to school for children aged three to six, freely enrolled by families.
The school welcomes hearing and deaf children indiscriminately, in compliance with the statutory dictates of the Managing Body, which has the integral education of the person as its particular goal.
The teachers, trained in the knowledge of LIS (Italian Sign Language), have always collaborated with the speech therapists of the audiology center of the Institute for the deaf, with whom since 2006 they have activated a project "How words sound" with the aim of screen for language and learning disorders as early as possible.
English (United Kingdom)