Presentation of the collection "Georgian Song-Games"
Ekaterine Dgebuadze, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia attended the presentation of the bilingual music collection "Georgian Song-Games", which was published with the support of the Ministry and the Children's Ability / Rehabilitation and Development Charitable Foundation – “Ai Ia”.
Ekaterine Dgebuadze addressed the public and spoke about the importance of the notation collection published in Georgian language for children with special needs. "The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports has been working on the development of inclusive education for about 15 years. Today we can say that only at the level of general education, up to 10,000 students with educational need to receive education. Of these, about 500 students have hearing problems. It is crucially important that these developmental and educational processes take place at an early age. Children with hearing impairments need a variety of services, educational and informal resources. I am convinced that this guide is the first step that will help these children in education and development. The Ministry will also review and fund interesting projects for individuals with disabilities. I am very pleased that such projects are also being supported by international organizations or local foundations. ”
"Georgian Song-Games" is the first notation collection, based on the principles of world music therapy by Nordof-Robins. Marina Reidt-Altunashvili, a music therapist, psychotherapist and oncopsychologist working in Germany, and her assistants - members and composers of the Ai Ia Charitable Foundation - Salome Khutsishvili and Tamar Jordania worked together to create the songs and games. The idea of creating a collection, started during their daily professional activities. Since all songs and games that were used on the beneficiaries were rough translations from German, as a result of improvisations in the therapy process, new songs were naturally created - organic songs and games for the Georgian language. It was these improvisations that prompted the authors to publish a collection of songs and games for children with special needs in Georgian.
"Georgian Song-Games" will be presented to various institutions throughout Georgia. It can be used in practice by specialists from rehabilitation centers working with children with disabilities, as well as music teachers working with children with typical development and special educational needs in kindergartens. The collection will also be donated to the Nordof-Robbins Center in Witten, Germany.
Ivane Chkhartishvili, a businessman, founded the Ai Ia Charitable Foundation on April 14, 2016. The fund was created for the development and implementation of a full-fledged rehabilitation model for hearing-impaired children living in Georgia.
