Summary Report

Three full-day workshops were held in central and Eastern Bosnia in late October 2004. Bobby Houser, president of TWI, represented the Virginia-based sponsoring organization and introduced the workshops as well as other TWI activities such as their summer camps in over twenty towns throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. Azra Saje, administrator for the Bosnian TWI, organized the workshops and invited teachers from area schools. Vjeko Saje served as translator and interpreter for the workshops. Bonnie Miller wrote all of the materials and presented the seminars. All workshops were organized in cooperation with OSCE headquarters in Sarajevo and with local OSCE representatives.

Every participant was given Bonnie’s materials in local language: parent manual (Communicating with Children), teacher manual (Connecting with Children in the Classroom), teacher guidebook on Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder, and handout packet on LD and ADHD, and each school was provided with the 32-minute “I Can Learn” videocassette. Participants were encouraged to return to share the written materials, as well as what they had learned in the day-long seminar, with their colleagues.

TOPICS COVERED

What are Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder and their specific symptoms? How do these syndromes affect children in school and in other aspects of their lives? Teachers were provided with many concrete suggestions for identifying and helping children who have these problems. A discussion of approaches for working as a team with parents was another important component of the workshop. The multimedia presentation itself demonstrated different ways of teaching and included a power point presentation, lecturettes, video, small group work, role-plays and simulations.

The Srebrenica seminar, held at the Cultural Center, consisted of half Muslim and half Serb educators; many of the Muslims were refugee returnees and some of the Serbs were from hard-line border towns such as Višegrad and Zvornik. The Goražde program at the Cultural Center included 1/3 Serbs (many from hard-line areas such as Foča and Rudo) and 2/3 Muslims, while the Travnik seminar at the Travnik elementary school was comprised of Muslims and Croats, some from hard-line areas such as Gornji Vakuf, Vitez, and Bugojno. In addition to the educational goals of the seminars, these programs provided the opportunity for teachers from different backgrounds and localities to come together to share common problems that they face and strategies that they can use in teaching children with learning and attention problems.

Evaluations were distributed to all 270 teachers and reflected a very positive and enthusiastic response to the seminar and written materials. Most of the teachers requested that further TWI workshops be held in their localities. Local TV stations in each town covered the workshops, and each station was given the videocassette to show as part of their programming.

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Updated: 12/15/2005