What is Portage
Portage is an early development program for special needs children aged 0-7.
Portage is a name of little town in USA where the program was first
developed. Portage is nowadays active in many countries, especially in UK,
Latvia and Japan. The aims of the Program are to help children with special needs (Down’s syndrome, Cerebral palsy, autism, etc.) to become fully entitled members of society and receive their rights to an education, starting from pre-school age.
Georgian Portage Association
The Georgian Portage Association is a public non-profit, non-governmental organisation that works with special needs children and their families from a pre-school age (from birth). The program was introduced in 2006 by Latvian Portage Association. The Association was established in 2006. The Georgian Portage Association is a member of the International Portage Association. Currently the Association has 10 Home Visitors with Latvian National Portage Association certificates working in Tbilisi, visiting 62 special needs children and their families. As a non-governmental organization, GPA has been able to begin implementation of this USA originating educational scheme, which is acknowledged and used world-wide. A trained Portage Home Visitor together with the parents draws up a teaching plan and visits the child at home each week to teach a new skill. Parents are fully involved in the teaching process and will practice the given tasks with the child daily. Portage takes one step at a time to learn a new activity and builds on success. In addition, the Centre offers a Sensory Room, Music and Play Therapy, using the latest equipment and Technologies. These give the opportunity for the children to participate in individual and group activities. The idea of social inclusion of children at early age is rather important for us. We’ve been implementing the inclusive educational project in the Kindergarten for already two years. More than 40 inclusive groups have joined 20 Pilot Kindergartens in Tbilisi; about 60 Special Needs Children are included in the groups. Portage Early Intervention Specialists are regularly visiting the groups to check the level of the integration.
