I took my seat and tuned in to the story of Lena, little princess. She told me about her teacher and her experiences at school so far. She enjoyed discovering new things and Katarina was her best friend.

Lena proudly shared with me that she had mastered cursive writing. She was also good at calculating the sum of integers up to 100.

If I told you she’s 10, you would probably say – it’s quite normal for children of her age to have such knowledge. However, for a child born with Down Syndrome, like our lovely Lena, every achievement she makes is a huge step forward. Her medical record mostly stated the things she would never be able to do. Predictions of her future success weren’t promising.

Yet her mesmerizing smile and happiness prove just the opposite. Her foster parents know well that everything is possible if we give these children lots of love and support. She was still a baby when they brought her home and not for a moment did they question their decision to do so.

Lena filled our lives with everlasting light and joy. Everything is better when she is around. Every day she surprises us with new things she learns and brings from school – these are the words of a woman, who deserves, rightfully so, to be called Lena`s mom.

School makes Lena happy and with the help of specially-trained educators she shows improvement on a daily basis.

Although her teachers can be sometimes strict and criticizing, they are also supportive and give her enough free time to engage in imaginative and creative play and the choice to work on the things she likes.

What I’ve learned from Lena is that small things can make a big difference in life, and the capacity of love she has to share is priceless.

My visit to the Primary School for Education of Children and Youth with Disabilities “Laugh and Tear” in Aleksinac left a deep impression on me. The school programs, activities and staff demonstrate a true example of good practice. This showed me that our donation went to the right place.

Here I met incredible and passionate teachers who are doing their best to meet the needs of every student. They constantly encourage little ones and make them feel loved and special. In such a caring, stimulating and warm environment, children are highly motivated to improve their skills and abilities. And they progress. Every single day.

Thank you Lena for the important lessons you taught me, and for the hair style to help me look prettier on my way back to Belgrade.

The post Lena’s Story – One Little Girl with Mesmerizing Smile appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

For this reason full inclusion of children with disabilities is an important goal that the school system should pursue through high planning and quality by increasing the effort towards staff training and local resources.

A specific programme adopted for a particular student may turn out to be of importance for other students as well.

A “special child” needs a joint academic, psychological and physical assistance that may include physiotherapy, speech therapy and much more. But we need to be careful, such a system cannot be considered an alternative to traditional school but an important “complementary ally” of it.

Too many people still think that it is not instructional to include students with disabilities in a traditional school system but often these people do not realise that a full inclusion improves not only special children’s life but also “normal” student’s ones.

Fortunately there are different examples to prove the opposite. One of these is the story of Nick Vuijcic, a 30-year-old man who was born in Australia with a shocking medical pathology: he has no limbs but just 2 fingers in the left foot.

For this reason the young Nick was not admitted to traditional school courses but thanks to his family’s efforts and laws rebuilding, he had the possibility to be one of the first children who attended a mainstream school system.

Early inclusion allowed him to follow a school programme with other children, developing many different skills that also include writing with his left foot.

But being special also meant difficulties: bullying was one of the worst enemies of young Nick. Maybe even worse than his disability itself.

Nick was able to overcome this bad situation with the help of his relatives and by learning various stories similar to his, Nick started focusing on his abilities instead on his limitations.

Speaking to a janitor at his school, Nick started to tell his story to other people and make them involved in his life.

This experience allowed him to be more confident and to find a new strength in him.

After this experience “a new Nick” was born: he was no longer a bullied guy, but he became a famous and loved motivator. Thanks to early inclusion and the possibility to set an example for other people, he is now one of the successful and happiest men in the world and especially a loved husband and father.

http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com/about-nick-his-story
Find out Nick Vujicic’s special life

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
Read more about Nick Vujicic “Life without limbs” organization.

The post Full Inclusion – Goal For All Schools? appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.