Special Needs Education: What Needs are satisfied?
 |  | Sensory-impaired and Physically Handicapped Children and Adolescents Sensory-impaired and physically handicapped pupils must basically satisfy the same needs as non-handicapped children and young people (cf. primary and lower secondary level schooling). |
Speech-impaired Children and Adolescents
Speech-impaired children and adolescents receive speech therapy care, usually once or twice a week. There is a network of outpatient therapy centers as well as an increasing number of special needs school placements for seriously speech-impaired children and adolescents.
Mentally Impaired Children and Adolescents
Mentally impaired children and adolescents receive encouragement in their development to the extent possible and according to their abilities. Advantage is increasingly being taken of the possibility for mentally impaired children and adolescents to receive integrative schooling. It is financed by the invalidity insurance system if the canton has adopted a cantonal integration scheme and if the integration measure is implemented by teachers specialized in educational support hired by a specialized institution and authorized by the canton, etc.). With the introduction of the changes following the adoption of the RPT (see above), it remains to be clarified how the integrative schooling of handicapped pupils will be provided in the future.
Evaluation of Learning Objectives
Teachers in special needs schools and classes conduct regular evaluations of individual learning objectives. Examinations at the end of the school year are instead rare, as are selective conditions for transfer to the next grade. At the end of the school year, evaluation reports are issued. Grade reports are quite uncommon, but they are used nevertheless in the setting of integrative schooling in the regular school, if the cantonal compulsory education regulations require it (starting from the last classes of the primary school).
Speech-impaired children and adolescents receive speech therapy care, usually once or twice a week. There is a network of outpatient therapy centers as well as an increasing number of special needs school placements for seriously speech-impaired children and adolescents.
Mentally Impaired Children and Adolescents
Mentally impaired children and adolescents receive encouragement in their development to the extent possible and according to their abilities. Advantage is increasingly being taken of the possibility for mentally impaired children and adolescents to receive integrative schooling. It is financed by the invalidity insurance system if the canton has adopted a cantonal integration scheme and if the integration measure is implemented by teachers specialized in educational support hired by a specialized institution and authorized by the canton, etc.). With the introduction of the changes following the adoption of the RPT (see above), it remains to be clarified how the integrative schooling of handicapped pupils will be provided in the future.
Evaluation of Learning Objectives
Teachers in special needs schools and classes conduct regular evaluations of individual learning objectives. Examinations at the end of the school year are instead rare, as are selective conditions for transfer to the next grade. At the end of the school year, evaluation reports are issued. Grade reports are quite uncommon, but they are used nevertheless in the setting of integrative schooling in the regular school, if the cantonal compulsory education regulations require it (starting from the last classes of the primary school).
