Special and rehabilitation educators often perform a mobile special pedagogical service. Normally, they are employed in one institution, but they work in one or more elementary schools or kindergartens. Detection, diagnostics and treatment of children are thus time-limited. Time-related problems can also arise when working with parents and professionals. Integrated early treatment in Slovenia has only recently been legally defined, which is why educational institutions in which children are involved continue to take up the educational part.
Pomurje is a region in Slovenia, which is quite far from major centres. This may represent problems because the number of professionals working with children with special needs in the region is smaller than in larger centres. Furthermore, there is a lack of connections with health centres where early treatment is also performed. There is only one development clinic located in Pomurje, while the nearest centres are located in Maribor. In spite of the high demand, Pomurje offers weak support at the local level.
The research deals with the time organisation of special education teachers who perform mobile pedagogical work. Furthermore, it deals with the dispersion of experts across various institutions and, above all, different places. In the survey, we determine whether increased work experience affects the response of special and rehabilitation educators to the questions raised about team work, time organisation and cooperation with parents and experts.
The survey involves 21 respondents from the Pomurje region. We have concluded that there are only some statistically significant differences in respondents' answers, depending on their age. They are mostly related to cooperation with parents, professional staff and direct work with children (giving parents instructions on the work with the child, parents calling for an interview, team cooperation in in the preparation of an individualized program, participation in the preparation of training for professionals). The overall opinion is that the biggest problem with the implementation of special and rehabilitation educators in kindergartens relates to spatial and temporal organisation. On the basis of the obtained results, we developed recommendations for kindergartens, which include feedback from providers of special and rehabilitation educators on time and spatial organisation.
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