Ural Federal University: University Lecturers Complete a Course on Working Effectively with Students with Disabilities

The Ural Federal University has completed a professional development course for lecturers on effective interaction with students with disabilities. The training took place from April 5 to May 31.

The training was organized in a remote format and included lectures and practical exercises. The trainees learned the rules of interaction with different categories of students with disabilities: with visual, hearing, and locomotor disabilities, as well as the rules of first aid for students with diabetes and epilepsy. A total of 94 employees took the course.

“They were invited to participate as part of inclusive teams (students with disabilities, students without disabilities, international students and lecturers) in the business game “Extrability”, where participants could learn about inclusive interaction in practice,” said Natalia Rudakova, Director of the Center for Inclusive Education.

In addition to basic theoretical information about the physical and psychological characteristics of people with disabilities, solutions were considered for problematic situations of interaction between lecturers and students, discussed the regulatory documents governing the education of students with disabilities and individuals with disabilities in higher education.

This time all participants of the professional development program had to attend several master classes in offline format. A practical session on effective interaction with students with locomotor disabilities was conducted by Victoria Dichor, psychologist at the Center for Inclusive Education. The event “Walking in the Dark” to develop skills for effective interaction with people with visual impairments was led by a blind trainer Aleksey Khristolyubov. Employees also visited neurodevelopmental practices led by Olga Belyashova, Deputy Head of the Department for Organization of Psychological and Pedagogical Support of the UrFU Specialized Education and Research Center and a teacher-psychologist.