About us
kozmutza ro.pptThe "Kozmutza Flora" Special School for the Deaf
Our school is unique in the country as it is the only special education institution for deaf children of Hungarian-ethnic families who would like their children to study in the family's first language. Our students come from 13 counties. Besides children with hearing impairment, our school offers small-group special education services to children with intellectual disabilities, children with ASD, children with specific skill disorders, and children with complex/associated disabilities.
In the 2023-2024 school year we have 16 student groups: 2 for children with hearing impairment, 4 for children with ASD, 6 for students with intellectual and associated disabilities, and 4 for children with mild disabilities and specific learning disabilities.
In our recently refurbished, colorful and engaging classrooms, students are learning in small groups, and our highly trained teachers' approach is based on differentiated instructions and individual learning paths. Most of our classrooms are equipped with modern teaching tools.
Our multimedia room is where students can become familiar with the use of computers and tablets, and where lessons are brought to life with the use of a smart board broadening the horizon of their knowledge and curiosity. In our student kitchen, richly furnished and spacious, children get acquainted with culinary arts and celebrate birthdays.
Our gym room – recently renovated and equipped with more modern requisites – is an inviting environment for learning through movement and play, practicing sports and maintaining fitness.
For our classrooms, colorful and enviably well-equipped,we have our generous international donors to thank. Starting in 2008, room by room, they refurbished and refurnished every learning space, made most of them accessible for students with physical challenges. The outer heat insulation of the building was financed by the Cluj County Concil.
The individual therapy rooms, along with the specific therapy rooms are also well-equipped: we currently have a Snoezelen Multisensory Stimulation room financed by Cluj County Concil , and a Sensory Integration Therapy room furnished using grant funds accessed through the Kozmutza Flora Association, our closest partner.
Special Education Kindergarten
Within our institution, the kindergarten is a particularly colorful and joyful place to visit. It has long been a part of our services, but lately the pool of beneficiaries have changed from children with hearing impairment to children with other categories of disabilities. Therefore, in the coming school year, our kindergarten will be housing 4 groups of children:
Children with atypical speech and language development, or speech and language disorders, whose educational needs require a curriculum and daily routine built around speech therapy and prevention of learning disorders.
Children with ASD, whose curriculum and daily activities revolve around early social communication development, sensory integration therapy, movement based activities, feeding therapy, etc
Children with associated disabilities, who are engaged based on a highly individualized intervention plan in small group and individual therapy settings
Children with neuromotor disorders, some of whom require the presence of a caregiver. Their daily activities are also aimed at increasing their level of independence in communication, movement and play.
Two teachers for early childhood education are making every group’s days brighter and more meaningful, and every group benefits from the specialized work and insights of a special education teacher for individual therapy.
Depending on the developmental profile of each child, a comprehensive individualized intervention plan is outlined, which employs the following supportive therapy options:
Kineto therapy
Sensory Integration therapy
Complex individual therapy
Speech therapy
ASD-specific individual therapy
This form of education is free of charge for the beneficiaries.
Integrated Special Education Groups
For the past 25 years, Hungarian-ethnic students with learning difficulties and emotional-behavioral disorders have been able to study in special education classrooms within the prestigious Bathory Istvan Highschool.
Most of the students of these groups have transfered to us after a period of struggling in mainstream school setting without the appropriate educational support services, allowing their initial learning difficulties to be crusted in behavioral problems and a general lack of purpose in learning.
It is our mission to provide them with a set of specialized teaching methods, an adapted curriculum, individualized instructions and therapy, diverse and captivating extracurricular activities and many project-based learning opportunities that will allow students to actively and constructively engage with their peers and mentors, thus paving the way for social inclusion.
School Psychology Office
The work within the School Psychology office aim to evaluate children as a starting point for developing intervention plans to minimize difficulties caused by behavior and mental health issues of SEN students, and to counsel children in distress.
The primary beneficiaries of these services are students of our school and kindergarten. Services offered cover the following domains:
-testing and assessment for all students
-counseling of students and their families, as needed
- playful activities to aid the development of language, cognitive and psychomotoric abilities held in partnership with the individual therapy or classroom teachers, the kineto therapis, and the school audiologist.
- activities aimed to help increase children's ability to adapt to social norms, to support the healthy development of their personality, held in partnership with homeroom and afternoon teachers
- Therapy sessions for children in crisis
- guidance counseling
Early Intervention
Due to the increased interest in and more acute need for early intervention services in Transylvania in the recent years, our school has submitted many grant proposals and obtained significant financing through the Kozmutza Flora Association for ensuring relevant training opportunities at reputable institutions abroad to enable our special education teachers to provide high quality early intervention services.
Currently, our school provides the following early education services:
Early childhood evaluation with the SEED Developmental Scale
Counseling for families of children with atypical development
Autism-specific early childhood intervention
Evaluation of eating behavior for young children, feeding therapy
Early intervention for children with hearing impairment and cochlear implants- educational audiology
Complex psychological evaluation and diagnostic
Sensory integration therapy
We believe that all children with atypical development are born with with a set of abilities and potential for development, and would like to provide them and their families with all the support and assistance that enables children under our care realize their potential to the fullest extent.
For more information, please visit our dedicated website: https://korai.kozmutza.ro/
School Health Services
Our school health office, through the work of a physician and two nurses, covers all medical needs of our students.
Dr. Manolache Corina has over two decades of experience in treating and caring for children with disabilities, and ably manages treatment plans for both long term chronic illnesses or seasonal diseases our students may have. Another pillar of her work is being in close collaboration with the specialist doctors of our students, so that pharmacological treatments can be safely carried out with the added benefit of constant monitoring of the patient’s evolution.
We have set up several treatment and recovery rooms for those of our little patients that due to the large distance cannot convalesce at home with their families.
Educational Support Services
Currently, the educational support needs of Hungarian-ethnic children integrated in the mainstream schools of Cluj Napoca are addressed by five support teachers from our school. Our goal is to provide help that enables families and mainstream educators to create the optimal conditions for the best learning outcomes in both classroom and home education settings.
Our day to day activity provides much needed support for mainstream schools in the correct educational interpretation of a student’s diagnosis, creates the individual support and development plan, personalized evaluation standards and teaching approaches, as well as preventive and complex special education services. Moreover, we consider being a link between the family and other professionals and social partners of the utmost importance.
School Audiology
On-site school dormitories
The current building of our student housing unit/ school dormitories has been inaugurated in 2001, with the generous financial support of donors from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany. It offers a warm and friendly living environment for our students for whom a daily commute to school is not an option. Students have access to housing and cafeteria free of charge. Our staff provide a wide range of free time activities ranging from sports competitions, social time, and various opportunities to become more self-sufficient in everyday life combined based on the specific needs of every child.
Kineto/ Physical Therapy
Kineto Therapy is one of the elements of a complex set of child-centered services, and it is planned and carried out in close cooperation with the School Health Services and special education teachers of students who require it.
The sessions held individually or in group settings, are built on the following elements:
· Evaluating motor functions
· Developing motor functions starting in kindergarten
· Posture correction
· Correcting spine curvature
· Complex therapies for children with neuro-motor dysfunction, balance and coordination challenges
· Rehabilitation of any altered or pathological motor functions.