Actually, I do have a both an answer and a question
The answer: my son was NOT born in Switzerland, he has NO Swiss citizenship, but still he was approved on 2013 for IV (or as its called in Ticino AI-Assicurazione Invalidita). This was after he had been diagnosed by a Swiss doctor as an autistic spectrum case. I do remember it was a bit long process (about 6 months) but with no complications apart from medical reports and assessments. Accordingly, we were able to send him for a special care school for two years, followed by an integration program in the elementary school with supporting accompanying teacher from the canton.
Now to the question :
I may have a job offering in St. Gallen starting in Feb.2017, and I am not sure if the IV (AI) that we have will be approved there or not, or whether the integration program that we had in Ticino is applicable (or something similar) in St. Gallen or in any surrounding cities (within 30 minutes drive).
In fact, my decision to accept the offer is mainly affected by the possibility to get my child a proper care and the ability to merge with other peers in school. If anyone has any details about how such cases are handled in Eastern Switzerland i would really appreciate the help.
From what I have come to understand the IV is federally organized. So should be available in the same way in St Gallen. Schooling is organized by the municipality and it will be important for you to find a school with good support for your ASS child. Some schools may have better programs than others. In general there are many schools with ASS specific support.
The IV benefit may well come from federal funds, but applying for it and being assessed is done at Kantonal level. So as with many things in CH, it depends where you live.
I can certainly say for SZ we were clearly told our child was only eligible for IV as she was born in Switzerland. Whereas our other daughter who was not born here, would not have been eligible. Neither of us are Swiss.
Can only assume from the op that this rule is not the same in Ticino. Therefore you'd need to check carefully with SG before moving!
Thanks for the inputs, having the IV on a federal level (although processed and assessed on a cantonal level) may ease a lot of things.
Still, the doubts are about the "Integration" programs. In general, children with ASS/ASD do go to special care schools/centers or in best cases to a public school with dedicated class for special needs.
In few cantons (I know about Bern and Ticino for sure) they started about four years ago with the "Early-stage integration" for ASD children in elementary schools, with the child being admitted to public school with an accompanying-dedicated teacher for 6-10 hours per week (usually covering the high-activity period of school weekdays).
I know that this early integration is a pilot project and is not adopted in all cantons of Switzerland, what I don't know is which cantons do apply it already.
I am planning to investigate on this further with local SG authorities before accepting the job offer. will come back to you with details ASA I have any
Hi @Lizak, It’s too long since this conversation took place, but maybe you are still around.
We would be interested in having some feedback from you if its ok for you. We are also living in Horgen and we will be sending our 4 years old kid to kindergarten this year. We are not sure what would be the best school fit. We have been visiting some schools, but even we don’t know how open should we be about our case, which is similar to the mentioned in this thread.
I would also be interested if you could tell us which school did you sent your kid?
When we have been talking with friends or people we know, some have told us that public school give full support of these cases. Others have told us that public school will depend on the particular teacher and that normally if your child is away of the norm it will probably don’t fit, so then private will be better. But a third group of friends have told us as well that private schools could even not accept neurodivergent kids if they know in advance. Even if our kid case is mild we are a bit confused about what to do and how to proceed.
I know that things might have change a lot in all these years, but the more information the better. Thanks a lot.