The Institute of Special Education Studies and the Department of Special Education
The Institute of Special Education Studies was established on 1 September, 2011. The Department of Special Education has already been existing for 44 years. At the very beginning, in 1967, the Institute´s ancestor, the Institute of Special and Curative Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava was found. Today, the Institute of Special Education Studies (ISES) and the Department of Special Education (DSE) within the Faculty of Education offer unique workplaces in accredited study programs for bachelor, master and PhD. degrees. Its members are experienced university teachers, authors of many professional publications for special schools, secondary schools and universities; and they are also authors of many research studies and scientific and educational projects. Nowadays, there are almost 20 full time doctoral students in the area of special education studies. It has also organised many international conferences and professional educational courses in cooperation with the Department of Special Schools at the National Institute for Education in Bratislava and the Department of Special Schools at Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. The Institute of Special Education Studies also participates actively in professional lifelong learning projects with the National Institute for Education in Bratislava. Five specialists from the Institute got a PhD. academic degree exactly in the field of special education.
Unique University Programs
The Institute of Special Education Studies and the Department of Special Education offer the unique and complex university study programs in bachelor, master and PhD degree in the special education field. They help to develop highly professional teachers and consulting specialists for working with all kinds of handicapped people as well as to provide young researchers and experts in the field.
Science and Research
The Institute of Special Education Studies and the Department of Special Education permanently (since 1967 as the leader in the field of special education) carry out the basic and applied research in this field. The research and publishing are aimed at these main issues: special education theory, special education and rehabilitation, communication theory of handicapped, trends in the inclusion, special education pedagogy, consulting and early intervention for handicapped and impaired children and adults. The research projects monitor trends in pedagogical sciences and interdisciplinary trends and they serve for the theory development, scientific research and education of students and also create a unique publishing base for special education. Thanks to many different scientific and academic projects and related publications, in Slovak Republic, only the Department of Special Education is entitled to do conferment and inaugurations in the field of special education.
Since 2010, the research activities are covered by the European psycho-neuro-education laboratory (EPSYNEL). This Laboratory is one of the outcomes of the VTM MŠ SR No. 042-008UK-8/2008 Project. The Laboratory has been participating in different researches and publishing activities of the Department and offers extensive international collaboration. The research at EPSYNEL Laboratory focuses on the development of modern intervention methods. At the Institute of Special Educational Studies, students of special education can work with the modern therapeutic and intervention methods and techniques, too. Nevertheless, one of those methods is neurofeedback – therapeutic method based on the central-nervous system autoregulation where the feedback is done by computer.
Support for Handicapped Students
Thanks to the Support Centre for Handicapped Students (realized through the ESF project), the ISES and the DSE aim their activities also to the handicapped students and their support during their studies. The hearing impaired students represent a very large group. These students are, except of their studying activities, also involved in many other social and cultural activities, and sport is one of them. Our former student Veronika Vojtechovska (Holubova by birth) won the bronze medal at the XVI. Deaflympics in Salt Lake City in 2007 in curling. Another of our students – Robert Ďurkovič, is the Slovak representative in boccia (the sport for seriously physically handicapped people). In that sport he won many sport honours and many medals in different prominent world competitions, such as Paralympics Games, World Championships or EURO Cup.
International Collaboration
For the long time, the ISES and the DSE at Comenius University have been cooperating with the universities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, England, the United States of America and Bulgaria. The DSE is intensively cooperating with universities in Katowice, Cedar Falls (USA), Budapest, Szeged, Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava, Munich and Kiev, Moscow, and Alma-Ata (in Kazakhstan). Since 1997, there is very intense collaboration with KCR (KCR - WTZ Krakowskie Centrum rehabilitacji - Warsztat Terapii Zaujeciowej - Rehabilitation Centre in Krakow – Interests Therapy in the special workrooms) Emanus Street, Krakow. Since 2000 the DSE cooperates with Unywersitet Pedagogiczny – Katedra Pedagogiky Specjalnej. Thanks to Slovak initiative from the Department of Special Education, two new international contracts have been settled with the University Abaya in Alma-Ata and with the University Mečnikova in Odessa. There is also more than 20-years old cooperation with Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, especially with the Department of Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. The president of the Pedagogy Department and the Head of the Department of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Prof. Anette Leonhardt, PhD. appreciated the work and evaluated our specialist Mgr. Margita Schmidtova, PhD. and gave her a medal for her contribution and long term international cooperation with this faculty. Mgr. Margita Schmidtova, PhD. was honoured this year when the Faculty of Education at Comenius University was celebrating 65. anniversary of its establishment.
Professional Practice at SpecialSchools and Organizations
The last years, the special education is being practiced regularly not only at special schools and organizations but also in Tatranska Kotlina in the High Tatras, where the educational and rehabilitation stays for multiply handicapped children and young people (mainly with cerebral palsy, autism, mental handicap, but also with different other diseases manifesting the multiple handicap) are organized and where the students can directly participate in the various highly specialized intervention and rehabilitation programs.
What did students say about this stays?
“For me as for a human being, the stay in Tatras is always a big and expected experience and as for a student it is an invaluable practice. On one hand I can get the practical knowledge from the different disciplines (thanks to our Department), but on the other hand we can also forget the school and gain many positive ideas for further activities at the university. To have a possibility to see the achievements of those seriously handicapped children and to develop under the professional supervision of professional pedagogues have a really inestimable value for me.“ Katarina Priesterova 1.mSP-POSP
“I have been participative in this form of practice for three years and it is a really priceless experience for me. I can get there new a practical knowledge and skills (which nobody can steal) and at the same time, when I see all the children making an effort during the different exercises and activities and how they proceed, it is a real satisfaction for me. I am very grateful to the Department that I can be a part of this even though I would be much more happier if every child would be healthy.“ Pavol Kassay 2.mSP-POMP
“This kind of practice in Tatranska Kotlina is like being in a fairytale world. I have to admit, that when I come home it is a really big problem for me to get back to the reality. In Tatranska Kotlina everybody tries to make an effort and everybody is full of energy. Everybody is kind there and we support each other.“ Marcela Drozdova 1.mSP-POMP
“This practice is an incredible opportunity how to get important information, associate (match) theory with practice and how to learn by experience. It is the chance how to get know (learn) what you can´t find in the textbooks.“ Šarka Štefanikova 1.mSP-MPSP
“During this professional practice I have gained many new experiences. It is said that it is better to see once than to hear 100 times. I have been learning about the cerebral palsy very much but there in Tatranska Kotlina I got know what it really means. My personality has grew up because I realised how little I have to do every day in comparison with this amazing children. And they are truly big destiny fighters.“ Lenka Lukačova 1.mSP-POMP
