HISTORY
Scoala Speciala Transilvania is functioning as a primary and secondary community special school in the central part of Romania, in the region called Transilvania. It is situated in the rural area of Cluj county, at 3 km near by Cluj-Napoca city.  It was founded in 1997 by Mrs. Dana Vasilescu MD, the president of the Transilvania Charity Foundation, in colaboration with other rehabilitation  centers throughout Europe and USA. Their target group was the children with severe and complex educational and developmental needs, most of them having a combination of neurological, genetic, motor and metal diagnosis, with various cognitive, emotional and behavioural disorders. Some of them were coping with chronic and progressive illness. After a while the school received the support of the Cluj County School Inspectorate.
In these 10 years we are in continuous growing: starting with 7 pupils, now we have 44; from 2 teachers in 1997, now there are more than 20; if at the begining we had an old building, nowadays we have a very new one and in 2005 we started to extend it with some adapted other rooms.

SCHOOL DESCRIPTION
Transilvania Special School offers  recovery programs for children with severe and complex neurobiological and psychomotor disorders ageing  between 8-20 years.
Our school’s mission is to integrate children with special educational needs into community,  to develop creative and expressive activities for these pupils, as well as to involve them in undertaking tasks which will increase their sense of belonging to society. 
Along with the school’s curricula and recovery therapies, the pupils are participating to quite a wide variety of extra-curricular activities.
In order to further improve its efficiency, our school collaborates with other special schools and mainstream institutions as well as with local authorities and with the pupils’ parents.
Facility enhancement and space adjustment have been adapted so as to meet the requirements of European standards of accessibility for the disabled pupils.
Soon, the project of expanding the present school building will be finalized. The pupils will be provided with an adapted kitchen, special therapy rooms, playground and relaxation areas and a patio. As well, an adapted elevator will facilitate the access to the upper floors. Special adjustments such as orthostatic and walking support devices, a pool of balls, working desks, computers, adapted cutlery and lifting devices will help pupils gain a minimum of personal autonomy.
Two school buses, which have been secured with adapted safety belts, ramp, and enough room for the wheelchairs ensure daily transport to and from school.
In order for the activities to go well, the entire school personnel are involved in assisting the pupils in their hygiene, transport and nourishment related special needs. The teachers working in our school possess the necessary qualifications required in the education of children who suffer from neuromotor disorders.
Our pupils benefit from personalized interventions, based on an adapted curriculum that has been previously elaborated through complex evaluations performed by a multidisciplinary committee.
Our school teaching staff is elaborating the evaluation strategies, the intervention programs and the activity planning methods together with the pupils’ parents.

Targets and activities:
Rehabilitation
Education
Social integration

School structure
- 44 students
- 30 staff (management staff, special education teachers, assistants (also teachers), physiotherapists, speach therapists, supporting teacher for included pupils, doctor, nurses, cleaning lady, drivers)

The most frequent diagnosis of the students
- cerebral palsy
- specific and non specific brain damage
- neuromuscular diseases
- congenital or genetic deformation

Primary and secondary education and therapy
Groups: 4 - 6 pupils
Curriculum: mainstream school, special school

Activities
1. Didactic activities upon mainstream/special curricula
2. Therapies
- Paramedical therapy:
   A. Physiotherapy, Hydrotherapy, Swimmimg, Horse back riding
   B. Occupational therapy:  individual and  group lessons
   C. Speech therapy
- Psycho-social education: Music therapy, Play therapy, Arts & crafts, Social education, Echology
3. Extracurricular activities aiming the social integration of SEN pupils (visiting museums, botanical garden, zoo, different organizations; going to shopping, walking; colaborations with mainstream schools)

School plan for students - Individual plans
- for each student
- modified with the agreement of: parents, student, staff

European Cooperations
- 2002 – 2004  Comenius School Project "RECSPEN" with special schools from The Netherlands (coordinator), Belgium, Estonia, Finland and Germany
- 2004-2007 Comenius School Project "RECSPEN 2" with special schools from The Netherlands (coordinator), and England. More about this project: www.special-education.hum.ro

ACTIVITIES IN COMENIUS SENSES MULTILATERAL PARTNERSHIP 2007-2009
The previous European partnership within special educational field helped us to define and develop the European dimension, which is included now in the local curriculum and the therapeutic approaches.
We aim to update our educational and therapeutic styles to the European standards both in order to respond properly to our SEN pupils and to be able to act as a resource centre for other local and national similar institutions.

Our strong points:
- Halliwick hydrotherapy technique
- Physiotherapy
- Horse riding
- Speech therapy
- Social Emotional Training
- Occupational Therapy
- Outdoor activities with children
- Speech therapy
- Emphatic Handling
- Reusing materials

Our interests – focus points in motilities and project activities:
- Team building through the staff
- Alternative Augmentative Communication
- Somatotherapy-massage-physiotherapy
- Conductive education
- Management styles and leadership strategies
- Evaluation systems for staff and children
- Alternative educational systems for SEN pupils
- Parents-school relationship management
- Vocational Politics for SEN pupils
- Expressive arts for SEN pupils
- Outdoor activities
- Speech therapy
- English learning

CONTACT DATA:
Address: Strada Principala 565, 407055, Comuna Baciu, Judetul Cluj, Romania
Telephone: 004(0) 264 260 612
Fax: 004(0) 264 260 612
E-mail address: sctransilvania (at) yahoo.com
Web page: www.sctransilvania.hum.ro
Headteacher: Mrs. Cosmina Urs

Comenius team coordinators:
Mrs. Clara Ilies, email: claracomenius (at) yahoo.com
Ms. Maria Baias, email: mariabaias (at) yahoo.com