On the 11th and 12th of May, the second 2023 transnational meeting of the “promoting communicative development in children and adolescents with intellectual developmental disabilities to support their inclusion” project (COM-IN)was hosted by KVPS in Tampere Finland.  Coordinated by the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne in France, the project aims to identify how better communication skills can support young people aged 10 to 25 years with intellectual developmental disabilities in Europe.

Day one of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the responses to an awareness survey gathered in the first project outcome, and to finalise the second primary outcome of the project, a guide on the development of socio-communicative skills for professionals. The consortium also had the opportunity to visit one of KVPS Finland’s local service providers, where we were given presentation and demonstration of an innovative tool used by KVPS with clients with communication support needs.

Day two was focused on preparing for the third and fourth outcomes of the project, a training module for professionals on the development of social-communication skills, and a MOOC (massive open online course) developed from the guide and the training module. This included developing the agenda for a week-long learning and training activity scheduled for Girona in November 2023, where the project’s target audience will pilot the final three project outputs.

Following on from a constructive and stimulating two days, the next transnational project meeting for the COM-IN project will take place in Girona in September 2023. To find out more about the COM-IN project, please reach out to Kalianne Farren.