Long story short, our son with ADHD is in 3rd class in the local school, to date he does get the support he needs after a lot of meetings and pushing a bit. With the change to middle school next year the school is saying they will not have the resources to help him. One option that is being discussed is to move him to a private or international school which the Germainde will fund.
My broad question here is to ask in general terms is how well these schools handle special needs kids, class size is one of the critical things for him. My initial thought was private = profit so there would be a reluctance to take on a child requiring more resources or maybe this is factored into the fees. I do see one advantage with these schools, being day schools in that there is more time and less interruption and redirection during the day which I think will help him.
Also any feedback on private schools in relation to this along the Zurich gold coast?
I know a couple of people whose kids have gone to clix in Stäfa (clix.ch), including one with a boy with ADHD. He started off in the local school and the Gemeinde has been paying for him to go to Clix.
The whole idea, as far as I can gather, is that the school usually takes kids with the idea of integrating them back into the local school, so kids are usually only there for a few years.
As far as I know they've been mostly happy so far, although, as always, it comes down to individual teachers. Might be worth a visit, though.
OP - I can only talk for our region, canton provides institution for older kids to get their learning, timing and results synched. For younger, they add a TA often, to accompany. Have seen it and regarding my own professional experiences, it works really well when the problems aren't too dramatic.
Private schools - depends, really. Call their own special ed dept and inquire. I know of Int. school here with great resources but little experience. I think you find fewer cognitively or behavioraly impacted students in private sector, maybe they are caught and helped earlier. The care might correspond. It really depends on the particular school.
But what you said about the stability of a fullday, I completely agree. Stability and routine is a big plus. On the other hand, the parascolaire that I pay is enormously engaged and do a lot of ped work, too. Diff kids, diff educators.
Another point - I have seen many kids, too, though, who were really bright and bored with a terrible teacher who were quickly shoved into a hyperactive, or other clinical diagnosis.
Has the local system suggested what options he would have if he was kept in their system ?
It is actually quite unusual for them to offer to pay for private/international schooling...have they agreed to do this long-term ?
I have experience with the process of getting the Gemeinde to pay for a child who was excluded from Kindergarten in the local Swiss KG and then settled down with a really excellent teacher in Montessori Kindergarten...the parents could pay for a year or two, but when he went to Primary we advocated for the child to get funding from the Gemeinde (who exluded him from KG!)...to keep him in a Montessori school (not ours, where I work we only have kids up to around 7 years absolute maximum)... I don't know how it worked out, but the reports for the first 2 years were good...
I will send you a PM with a list of schools that I know about...
Montessori may also not be the best environment for a child with ADHD as there are ground rules about disrupting other children, and the child has to be able to work independently with minimum adult motivation... but for some kids who are very bright and have had a very negative experience of school being too 'rigid' or 'formal' they do manage and actually find ways to calm down in Montessori. You may need to also consider medication and a lot of behavioural management to be implemented at home as well as school to get the best out of the school system, although Montessori teachers I would say philosophically prefer to avoid meds as a first step, and prefer to give a child time to respond to the environment...
I don't know if it will help to give some ideas for the things I look for in a school for children with special needs, I would visit all options and check against the kinds of things I discuss below (some of these things are specifically ADHD related and others more general). You may know all about this already, but in just in case.
1) What is the ethos of the school? Is it more orientated towards inclusivity, and by that I mean all kids of all levels in the same class taught via differentiation? This is an important one for me, because many ADHD kids are bright but can often be put in the lower streams of academically ability due to the lack of results or poor grades. Instead they tend to do much better in mixed ability groups. Does the school have high expectations for ALL of its students or is it more interested in the top flight kids? Many ADHD kids mature a lot later, so although the academic side may be challenging now it is no indicator of future success (Richard Branson is ADHD etc).
2) What is the discipline policy of the school? As a generalisation ADHD kids tend to have a lot of self-esteem issues due to the fact they are often re-directed/or punished by teachers as they find it hard to follow rules and maintain expected levels of behaviour. A school with very strict rules and not much flexibility discipline wise can be tough for these kids.
3) Does the school have the right staff in place to support him? A good ed psych, first and foremost, a broad SEN team with the necessary training and credentials. SEN assistants available for all year groups. Learning mentors to help ADHD kids organise themselves and co-ordinate homework etc.
4) Worth asking the school what the specific supports they put in place for ADHD kids, both physical tools (like adapted seating) and also behavior management tools (like a hall pass so the child can take a break from class if needed).
We may have a solution, junior school with small classes, my son will make a visit for a couple of days and see how we go. They are geared towards handling children with special needs and classes are based on ability/level rather than age which is good. Thanks for your input.