The Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão has decided to extend the ‘Inclusive Holidays’ municipal project and is promoting, until 13 September, an occupational programme for young people with special educational needs, students from the municipality, who would otherwise have no family support or back-up until the start of the new school year.
 
Until now, the municipal ‘Inclusive Holidays’ programme took place during the months of June and July and during the Easter school break. 

‘These are children and young people with specific educational needs who find specialised support here, while at the same time we allow their families to resume their work without worry,’ says the mayor Mário Passos.

‘This support really makes a big difference,’ says Renata Marinho, who has her son Tomás in the care of the municipality's Educational Resource Centre (CRE) team. ‘We don't have a viable alternative to keep our son occupied during this period, in a place we can trust and where his well-being is assured,’ she says.

In August, Tomás' parents split their holidays, which is the only way they can reconcile work and looking after their son. ‘If it wasn't for this support, I would have had to stay at home for those two weeks until school started again,’ he says, praising the local authority for the work and care it provides to this group of children and young people. ‘The CRE team is exceptional and it's very important for the children to keep a routine, busy with activities instead of being at home,’ she adds.

The CRE - Centro de Recursos Educativos (Educational Resource Centre) is located in Vale S. Cosme and consists of various spaces such as therapeutic and specialised intervention rooms, a snoezelen room and a sensory integration room, where a multidisciplinary team of technicians from the municipality in the areas of health, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, family mediation and educational intervention closely monitor this group of children and young people with specific educational needs throughout the school year.