ქართული 
Foundation ”Ai Ia” continues its cooperation with Ilia State University. An important and productive meeting was held on May 20 within the framework of the ABC – Assisting Better Communication project funded by Erasmus +. The purpose of the meeting was to share information and experience about resources for assessing hearing, communication, language and speech development on an early age.
At present, there is no Georgian, adapted and standardized version of these assessment tools that is a serious challenge for Georgian specialists working with children with hearing, communication, language and speech disorders.
In the framework of the ABC project implemented on the basis of Iliauni, translated and adapted questionnaires are also actively developed in Georgian.
The meeting was attended by the team of the Foundation “Ai Ia” and experts from Iliauni:
Nino Tsintsadze – ABC, Assisting Better Communication – Erasmus + Project Manager. Iliauni, together with international experts, is involved in the development of a Master’s program in Communication, Language and Speech Therapy and in the development of a clinical supervision model.
Tinatin Tchintcharauli – Professor of Neuropsychology at the Ilia State University heads the Institute of Child Development.
Maia Tsuladze – Coordinator of Sub-Program of Inclusive Education Development Division of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.
The meeting also included students of the Iliauni Masters Program – Communication, Language, Speech – Elene Tskrialashvili, Anna Shamatava, Tiko Antidze – they are actively involved in the translation of up to 20 specific English language instruments into Georgian; they also had passed practice in our foundation and administered some of the questionnaires with our beneficiaries.
The meeting was fruitful as the exchange of information was important to all parties. The need to develop auditory assessment tools was once again emphasized, ”Ai Ia” and its specialists will continue to work closely with Iliauni and other stakeholders.
