On Tuesday 23 April the focus group meeting for the POWER UP project took place in Larissa/Greece (JOIST Innovation Park), under the coordination of the Institute for the Development of Entrepreneurship, with the participation of 9 professionals in the field of mental health, empowerment, and education of people with special educational needs (SEN).

Participants included representatives of the Association of Parents, Guardians and Friends of People with Autism of Larissa, special education professionals and speech-therapists with extensive experience in dyslexia, psychologists, psychotherapists, trainers and caregivers in public and private creative activity centres for people with SEN.

It is worth mentioning the participation of Ms. Gl. Mitsiou - Daktyla, former Lecturer in the University of Thessaly, Primary Education school counselor, researcher in neurobiology and author of 8 scientific books on dyslexia, as well as the participation of psychologist Ms. Evelina Preventi, founder of Preventi Publishing House, which publishes accessible books for people with disability.

During the structured discussion moderated by Dr. Andreas Almpanis (iED researcher), the challenges of educating people with SEN were realistically highlighted and solutions were provided that can be used by the project researchers in the process of developing educational materials. The results of the focus group will be presented to the scientific and educational community of Larissa, in an open event on 16 May, which has as its main topic the accessibility of educational tools for post-secondary education. IED Institute of Entrepreneurship Development

#PowerUpProject #inclusion #digitalskills #entrepreneurship #youthempowerment