DYS-centrum® Praha z.ú.
DYS-centrum Praha o.s.
About us
DYS-centrum® Praha is a non-governmental organisation for individual with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities, their parents, teachers, other educators, partners, employers etc. Our activities are based on a long tradition of specific learning disabilities (SLD) assessment and remediation in the Czech Republic. We also find resources and inspiration in foreign “good practice” models, which are evidence-based.
DYS-centrum® was established on February 2nd 1995 as a civic organization. It has its own statutes and a board. DYS-centrum’s activities are also supported by its members. They are specialists who work with individuals with specific learning disabilities and/or AD(H)D (e.g. teachers, special educators, psychologists, speech therapists, social workers etc.), parents of children with specific learning disabilities and/or AD(H)D, sometimes also adults with SLD and/or AD(H)D.
DYS-centrum® Praha cooperates with a number of specialists including psychologists, (special) educators, speech therapists, neurologists, psychiatrists, and paediatricians, who treat indivduals with specific learning disabilities. They either participate in different problem solving situations or lead various educational activities organized by DYS-centrum®.
What we offer
To our clients:
-
ASSESSMENT, including dynamic assessment (i.e. the assessment of a learning propensity)
-
INDIVIDUAL REMEDIATION OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES AND/OR AD(H)D; we use traditional approaches but also implement new methods and remediation activities. The emphasis is put on evidence-based methods.
-
WORK WITH FAMILIES; parents are involved in the remediation work with children as much as possible; counselling and support are offered to them on various occasions.
-
COUNSELLING to teachers, university students and everyone who is interested.
-
SUPPORT of cooperation between teachers and parents of children with SLD and/or AD(H)D.
DYS-centrum® Praha is a civic organization and therefore its services are paid by clients. However, we keep on writing grant applications and we try to lower our fees by grant supports. For instance in 2007 we gained money for some technical equipment in the centre and also for several remediation programmes – it means some of our clients were able to attend their sessions free of charge. Since July 2013 we have been conducting an EU grant on junior high school students with SLD who study in Prague. Thus these student are also offered services free of charge. Within this project DYS-centrum® also closely cooperates with several Prague schools where our counsellors offer regular services free of charge. The grant will be finished by March 2015.
To teachers, counsellors and other professionals in the field:
DYS-centrum® Praha is an educational institution accredited by The Czech Ministry of Education. It organizes courses, seminars and workshops for teachers, special educators, psychologists, speech therapists, other specialists, students of pedagogy, and parents. The courses are led by prestigious specialists from The Czech Republic (i.e. psychologists, special educators, speech therapists, neurologists). We currently offer approx. fifty different courses.
The accreditation means that the courses can be paid from state funding which schools get for further education of their employees. It also means that the quality of each accredited course is granted by the Ministry of Education.
Educational activities also include cooperation with schools and universities. We offer university students to spend their obligatory training in our institution. We participate in various researches conducted in the Czech Republic, and in development and implementation of special teaching aids and assessment methods for individual with SLD and/or AD(H)D.
In 2008 we received a two-year EU grant on education of secondary school teachers. They were offered various courses and training activities which should enhance their knowledge how to work with their students with SLD and/or AD(H)D. All these educational activities were free of charge.
Other activities
-
ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION “DYSKORUNKA”, where DYS-centrum® and many other institutions present and sell their publications, teaching aids, PC programmes, videos and tapes suitable for work with children with SLD and/or AD(H)D. The conference presents the latest methods of assessment and remediation as well as results of current research in the field. The presenters are from all part of the country as well as from abroad.
-
Running a specialized library which includes Czech and foreign books and journals on specific learning disabilities and/or AD(H)D. DYS-centrum® keeps contacts with Czech authors and publishing houses and the number of publications in the library gradually grows.
Contact
Chairwoman: PhDr. Lenka Krejčová, Ph.D (lenka.krejcova[at]dyscentrum.org)
address: Stejskalova 192/9, Prague 8, 180 00, Czech Republic
telephone number: +420 270 005 889 mobile: +420 603 399 889
e-mail: dyscentrum[at]dyscentrum.org
website: http://www.dyscentrum.org
If you wish to get any further information on DYS-centrum® Praha and its activities in English, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to establish contacts with foreign institutions of a similar kind.
