Special Needs Education: Overview
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Special forms of schooling are available for children and young people who are unable to meet the usual school standards or who need special educational programs to do so. General compulsory education also applies to children and young people with visual and hearing impairments, physical and learning disabilities, mental retardation, speech and behavioral disorders.
There are currently about 100 centers for early childhood special education (e.g., special needs education services, specialized early childhood education and treatment guidance centers, etc.), which are sponsored not only by associations and foundations but also by the municipal and cantonal authorities.
In French-speaking Switzerland and in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, there are also itinerant educational services (SEI), but their organization differs from one canton to another. However, all the professionals involved have postgraduate training in early childhood education. The SEI look after the educational and psychological needs of young children with developmental difficulties as well as providing help and advice to parents in their educational task.
There are currently about 100 centers for early childhood special education (e.g., special needs education services, specialized early childhood education and treatment guidance centers, etc.), which are sponsored not only by associations and foundations but also by the municipal and cantonal authorities.
In French-speaking Switzerland and in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, there are also itinerant educational services (SEI), but their organization differs from one canton to another. However, all the professionals involved have postgraduate training in early childhood education. The SEI look after the educational and psychological needs of young children with developmental difficulties as well as providing help and advice to parents in their educational task.
Types of Special Needs Schooling
The cantons are responsible for special needs schooling. The special needs schooling consists of
The cantons are responsible for special needs schooling. The special needs schooling consists of
 | Special needs schools subsidized by invalidity insurance (IV-AI) (schools for children and young people with mental impairments, physical disabilities, behavioral disorders, deafness and hearing impairments, serious speech deficiencies, visual impairments or chronic illnesses); |
| Special needs classes closely linked to the regular school, in some cantons only (providing notably introductory classes for compulsory education, introductory or transition courses, classes with a limited number of pupils in primary education, known as support classes in certain French or Italian-speaking cantons, schools or classes of manual activities in secondary education, not available in all cantons); |
| Outpatient help, guidance and therapy counseling (notably, educational support, such as specialized teaching support, speech therapy and treatment of dyslexia, therapeutic exercise, school psychological counseling, etc.). |
General Legal Requirements
Legal regulations for the educational support of the disabled, besides the invalidity insurance legislation (IVG-LAI and IVV-RAI), are primarily contained in the cantonal education and school laws as well as in the corresponding implementation rules. The Federal Law on Overcoming the Inequalities affecting Handicapped People (LHand), in force since January 1st, 2004, guarantees equality of rights; Art. 20, paragraph 1, reads: "The cantons shall ensure that handicapped children and young people enjoy the benefit of a basic education adapted to their specific needs." Paragraph 2 reads: "They shall encourage the integration of handicapped children and young people in the regular school system through appropriate forms of schooling to the extent that it is possible and beneficial for the handicapped child or young person concerned."
Financing
Special needs schooling is financed primarily by the cantons and by invalidity insurance (IV-AI). Invalidity insurance (IV-AI) benefits may be claimed if there is a physical or mental injury to health, which was caused by birth, illness, or accident and which will lead presumptively to an inability to earn a living.
The Swiss people accepted the Financial Equalization and Task Allocation Reform governing relations between the Federal government and the cantons (RPT), which in future will have repercussions on financing, with particular regard to the financing of specialized teaching as well as the education and therapy services provided by the cantons.
Legal regulations for the educational support of the disabled, besides the invalidity insurance legislation (IVG-LAI and IVV-RAI), are primarily contained in the cantonal education and school laws as well as in the corresponding implementation rules. The Federal Law on Overcoming the Inequalities affecting Handicapped People (LHand), in force since January 1st, 2004, guarantees equality of rights; Art. 20, paragraph 1, reads: "The cantons shall ensure that handicapped children and young people enjoy the benefit of a basic education adapted to their specific needs." Paragraph 2 reads: "They shall encourage the integration of handicapped children and young people in the regular school system through appropriate forms of schooling to the extent that it is possible and beneficial for the handicapped child or young person concerned."
Financing
Special needs schooling is financed primarily by the cantons and by invalidity insurance (IV-AI). Invalidity insurance (IV-AI) benefits may be claimed if there is a physical or mental injury to health, which was caused by birth, illness, or accident and which will lead presumptively to an inability to earn a living.
The Swiss people accepted the Financial Equalization and Task Allocation Reform governing relations between the Federal government and the cantons (RPT), which in future will have repercussions on financing, with particular regard to the financing of specialized teaching as well as the education and therapy services provided by the cantons.
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