Dates ICC 2007

Two different events for students aged 15 to 17 years and 17 to 20 years.

15 to 17 years: July 23rd to 30th, 2007
17 to 20 years: August 1st to 8th, 2007

 

The following text will give you more detailed information on the Arla Institute.

www.arlainst.fi/english/index.htm

Vocational Special Education Since 1892

The Arla Institute, vocational training and development centre, operates in Espoo, quite close to the centre of Helsinki. We offer vocational rehabilitation and training for visually impaired and deafblind people. In addition we offer various specialist services. We are the only specialist centre in Finland in this field. We are government owned.

Over 100 Years of History

The roots of our centre date back over a hundred years. In 1892 blind women got a home in Helsinki, where they also studied handicrafts and made goods for sale. At the turn of the century it was the blind men's turn. In 1906 a beatiful Art Nouveau house was completed, the work school for blind men, which was given the name "Arla" "the moment before sunrise". After World War II the schools for the women and the men were combined. A provate foundation maintained the schools from the beginning to 1972, when the special vocational school for visually impaired people was transferred to the government. At that time the school moved to more spacious facilities in Espoo. Vocational training for visually impaired people has travelled a long way from handicrafts, gradually expanding to the present boundless suply of services offered by the Arla Institute.

Who Needs our Services

The services of the Arla Institute are primarily needed by adults, who have encountered problems with their sight in adulthood. The majority of our 180 students are partially sighted and about 20% are blind. Several of our students have some form of additional impairment or long-term illness. One special group is deafblind people. We also have students with no impairments.

Previous education and work experience are taken advantage of when drawing up a new rehabilitation and training plan. We make individual plans together with the client starting with his/her wishes.

Setting Individual Goals

The main goal we set for all our students is employment. To fullfill this main goal others are set which will enable the clients to become as independent as is possible and so be able to take control of their own lives.
This requires individually planned and executed rehabilitation, a development of functional skills as well as vocational studies.
We strive to arrange any kind of vocational training required on an individual basis. The studies can, depending on the goals and starting point, last from a few weeks to 3-4 years. They can be realized either within the frames of the Arla Institute, or if necessary in cooperation with other educational establishments and employers, or for example completely at another educational establishment.

Rehabilitation and Foundation Courses

Some of our students need to develop their functional skills and require rehabilitation before vocational training.
Our foundation courses (0,5 - 1 years) are designed to develop the functional skills necessary for studying, work and social interaction, such as: 

• mobility
• activities of daily living
• social and communication skills
• braille
• word processing
• visual training
• the use of tecnical skills

The courses are also designed to develop physical and psychological health through various forms of functional rehabilitation, such as:

• creative expression
• drama workshops
• dance
• music therapy
• illustrated work
• various forms of physical education, such as ballgames, riding, absailing, swimming, bowling, jogging, etc.

If necessary we offer additional deep individual therapy with the help of outside experts. Rehabilitation is continued if necessary during the vocational training. The student is also free to use the services of the health care unit, the study councellors and the student hall.

Vocational Training

The Arla Institute strives to arrange any kind of vocational training starting with the customer's needs. The Institute's own courses are based on a framework within which it is possible to realize very individual study programmes.

We offer the following possibilities:

• office, customer service and computing work, such as word processing, telephone operator, tele-marketing, information work
• computer programming and design as well as technical support
• health care, such as massage and physiotherapy
• handicrafts, such as upholstering, wicker work, weaving and other handicrafts with individual raw materials and products
• household work in homes and institutes, such as cleaning, kitchen and laundry work
• piano tuning. Since the Arla Institute is the only centre in Finland which offers this course it is open to all young people.
• basic mechanics, bicycle repairs and maintenance of mechanical aids, such as wheelchairs
• training in running a small business based on individual professional skills

Training for Deafblind People

Annually there are about fifteen deafblind students at the Arla Institute. The students form a very heterogenous group. They have different kinds of impairments and their ability to communicate varies. Their age also varies considerably (average age 26-27). Most of them have a progressive desease called Usher Syndrome. Deafness or partial deafness and a gradually reduced eyesight are characteristic of this syndrome. Most of the students can see and/or hear to a certain extent and they communicate in various ways.

Some of the deafblind students take vocational courses together with students who are visually impaired, others study in their own small groups or they may have individual instruction. The Arla Institute also arranges vocational training in homes for deafblind people all over Finland. The goal is to create a tempo and a culture for the 8-10 inhabitants in the home where work is the defining factor. These special projects last 2-3 years.

Costs

The education is funded by the government and to a lesser degree by the student's local authority. The grant is based on the number of students. Apart from free training the student can receive a rehabilitation grant or a student grant through other channels.

Further Training Courses

The Arla Institute offers a possibility to develop ones professional skills with about 40 short courses p.a. and a few post-graduate courses that last 4-5 months. The short courses as well as the post-graduate courses are realized according to an annual plan. The funding comes from the government.

Word processing, spreadsheet, and other short courses in the various fields of computing are very popular. One can also obtain a computing "driving licence" comprised of seven parts, which will meet the national standards. Another large group is made up of courses in health care. The remaining short courses are spread out over various fields.

Post-graduate courses have included sports massage, health care for the elderly, newspaper and radio work and a catering course for deafblind people.

Specialist Services, other Services

One of the primary functions of the institute is to offer specialist services to other educational establishments and to visually impaired students studying at general vocational colleges.

One form of specialist services within the institute is the unit for study materials. This unit translates the study material to a form suitable for each student. The forms include braille, audio tape, enlarged print, reliefs, electronic form which can be read using a computer (diskette).

The technical aids used in teaching primarily involve reading and writing, such as special televisions for reading for the partially sighted and text enlarging software, speech synthesizers and braille terminals for reading the computer display. We offer our expertise in this field to other educational establishments and workplaces. We also manufacture braille terminals for computers.

We offer training for staff working with visually impaired people in other establishments, including rehabilitation instructors for the blind, where one can specialize in either the field of mobility and ADL for visually impaired people or low vision training instruction. This training is post-graduate and lasts one year. The course participants are in employment and the training is based on an agreement made with their employers.

The above mentioned services are available for purchase to those who require them. In addition The Arla Summer Hotel operates in the grounds of the new student hall. The facilities are modern and the surroundings pleasant.

Arla Institute
Puustellinmäki 4 - 6
SF-02650 ESPOO
FINLAND
Tel. + 358 - 9 - 511 081
Fax. + 358 - 9 - 511 08300
http://www.arlainst.fi/english/index.htm