The kick-off meeting for this a ground breaking new Erasmus+ project took place at the project coordinator’s head office (European Cleft Organisation) in Rijswijk on Wednesday 20 November 2019. 17 participants attended from 9 partner countries including the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Serbia, Norway, Romania, Estonia, Ireland, Italy and Malta. The thee-year project will, for the first time, bring together specialists in speech therapy and psychology to develop an education programme to be delivered by health professionals to parents of children born with clefts. The course will enable parents to identify signs of impairment and offer practical ways of supporting their child who may be experiencing speech and language difficulties and/or psychological challenges associated with their condition. Speech, appearance and psychological adjustment are inextricably linked.
The team were pleased to welcome Danielle Eerenberg of Erasmus+ Netherlands to the meeting which focused on overall objectives, team planning, administrative procedures and monitoring.
“ I am delighted with the enthusiasm we had around the table from international experts in the field. The partnership is really strong and everyone knows that the real beneficiaries of this project will be the families of children born with clefts ”
ECO Executive Director, Gareth Davies
