Hi, anyone experienced the sparchheilschule (speech therapy school) in Switzerland? Local kindergarten suggested that our daughter joins this school for 3 years then merge into the standard school on the 4th grade. My daughter has speech delay in german, and shes able to form simple sentences (3 or 4 words) and understands german normally, however, they say this might not be sufficient for normal school next year.
Anyone can shed a light here? Especially the effect of this school on a kid when he is sitting with other kids who have language difficulties, because kids learn from kids more than from adults and teachers.
Hi, Zurich. This sprachheilschule is a core part of swiss education system so it should not really matter which part - we are looking for someone who has experience with them to ask about it
Your question sounds very complex to me. Speech delay in German and you ask in English, does that mean her mother tongue is English? And how is her ability in conversing in English?
Depending on your answer to that it could appear that they’re planning to “mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schiessen”, meaning an overkill reaction.
A Kindergarten child who goes to Kindergarten a few hours a day, hears and speaks English only (or any language) the rest of the day, does not have German speaking neighbour kids to play with … would only need extra, child oriented German lessons.
These Sprachheilschulen are a good thing but you do well to get as much information possible about them and the specific need of your daughter in advance. Unfortunately I can’t give you that but if I were you I’d first ask to talk to the “Schulpsychologe” (educational psychologist) at your daughters’ school who must have met her plus just call up one of these schools and ask to meet for general information.
If your daughter has the same problems in her mother-tongue, Sprachheilschule covers many reasons for that and offers individual treatment.
Hi curley
Thanks for the info - you are right, german is not spoken (or even known to us) at home. She is a corona kid, got isolated from the world for 2 years and due to work related we overlooked the language delay and when we noticed that, we worked on her with the help of speech therapist. She speaks a very good (maybe 10 to 15% less fluent than her peers). We notified the canton about this speech delay when she joined the kindergarten so they are aware of it… this seems to have been taken against us rather than helping the little kid. Now she speaks simple german sentences etc after a year in KG and she is progressing really well and we are confident if they give her a chance until end of KG 2 she would do better. They say shes perfect in everything else but language level (german) is not on paar and they suggested that we look at the sprachheil thing and register her in advance etc… while the idea seems good, we are worried that she would be sitting all day with non speakers or ppl with difficulties and this would affect her as a kid, plus after heavy 3 years she would be back at normal school but with “negative” traits because she didnt see the real world school at earlier stage. We already discussed this with the school PSD and she didnt budge or assure or do anything to comfort us about such life changing decision, which made us feel that it might be just they want to relief the schools staff by throwing kids in need to some other system, hence I came here to ask about other ppl experiences.
Schulheil allows event evenings but only in april and we must have submitted the application by then, we can’t casually reach out to them. Also parents of other kids in that school refuse to share their own experience to avoid prejudice etc.
This is what we have thought of. They told us we can reject this option and go to normal school with a passive “hey, you know, shes 1 out of 30 there, so she may not get the attention she needs language wise”. We are between 2 fires, rejecting and ending with regrets and blame, or accept and end up isolating her from normal world or gaining traits from kids with issues. For the sake of clarity: she was tested many times and she has no Autism or any other syndrome. She in fact a perfect kid in class but her german is not on paar and they made an assumption “maybe because she talked late”
Sounds to me your child needs German lessons. If the school does not offer (and they should!!) find a good place for her to get them.
you make it sound like it would be a different world
But I also feel this is simply not necessary and the reaction you describe from the teachers doesn’t sound professional either. Sounds like a weird Kindergarten to me. It’s pretty obvious your child had hardly a chance to learn German so far. Hence: Extra lessons. Plus maybe even a playgroup - with German speaking kids obviously.
Thanks @curley … by any chance, are you part of the educational system here? You sound like knowing the internal mechanism.
Sorry if I sounded offensive, but We like her teachers but we dont like the idea of shoving someone under their umbrella at someones else umbrellas and with short notice too! (We parents were confused with such surprise note with no prior preparing).
She goes to logopädie once a week for 30 or 40 mins and they think this is not sufficient (and they cant offer more ar this stage)… and we are wondering what else we can register her in to improve her german (we noticed she learns super quick from kids, not parents or teachers)
Different world: you sit with 6 kids who all have specific problem: they dont talk. They all go to long day class of repeating same word or sentence… while normal school has lots of kids, space and freedom so she can learn faster and meet the real world earlier than later. If you know what I mean
My advice is to go to a normal school. If she is a “normal” learner just having a harder time with German, I would do it. Maybe she understands more than she speaks because she fears she’s not “perfect”?
Only german language is not on paar. So you say that she wont get lost in the school if her german level is not as good as others (especially the class there consists of 25 pupils)
I know a couple of kids who could barely speak German before first grade (but probably understood more) and they managed just fine in the primary school.
I say this because she doesn’t seem way behind other kids so chances are, if helped more consistently, she will catch up. But you know your child!!! What does your instinct tell you?
Do you think she’ll make it even if it will be more challenging or she’ll get very frustrated and “sulk”? I mean kids have different temperaments, so you too might have to work more with her.
Edit: as for you primary question - it is the first time I hear about Sprachheilschule so unfortunately I cannot give you any feedback. I think you can ask to visit it (with your child) before you make up your mind.
No, I’m not part of the educational system here. But foreign children and their schooling here was a part of my job for a very long time.
Don’t apologize for wanting to know exactly what and why something is suggested to you (and take it as a suggestion, not as a God given thing by the school). Ask for a translator if you feel your German or their English is not sufficiant enough.
Logopädie is not about learning a second language. She won’t profit from it to learn German if she is perfectly capable to speak English. It gets stranger and stranger to me, if things are they way you described them and I’m not missing out on something important. And no, you don’t need to write down all the details here, that’s not what I mean.
For Logopädie, there is usually a medical or psychological basis/problem.
If you already have a paediatrician, take you child there. If you don’t and you have difficulties getting an apointment with one, take her to the GP. Have them check your child out, explain what’s going on and talk the situation over with them. It’s the medics not the teacher who know if there is a need for special treatment like that.
Meanwhile get your kid together with Swissgerman/German speaking children. Eight hours in a childcare with no other children present is pretty useless, even German TV is better than that (children program and not the Teletubbies, horrible stuff, do they even talk?!). Get her to listen to children stories “Märchen” (in my days they were on tapes, don’t know about now ) and by the way it won’t harm your own German if you sit with her and listen to the stories too. Have someone reading stories to her in German “Kinderbücher” with pictures, play children songs at home, in German of course … you know it all, you did it in English, no? Just do more and it doesn’t matter if you adults get sick and tired of it
Let us know how it turned out, we like to hear about the “after” here.
All the best.
Hi @greenmount my child is so fine with new things and can tolerate. She excels in small groups and in big groups she backs off and waits to be noticed (ie she doesnt take initiative in mass groups, however she stays cool and attentive and hoping for someone to pick her).
Yeah I will request a visit although Im not sure if they can open it for public without formalities etc
Thanks @curley
Every single kid (in my area) who have non german speaking family gets logo by default especially the ones who didnt go to kita and Spielgruppe etc. for my daughter the Logopädie was suggested by her doctor as an early intervention because she was delayed until she spoke at good level (he said: shes late speaker so she has higher chances on being late too in german, so we better start early etc).
We are sure our daughter is fine (our instinct) and we know that she sometimes needs inclusion (when she is not confident about something or being shy), and the latter made us very reliant and trusting the KG because they are good at that (or they say so!), however, and according to them: she is really ready to school and doing great at kg (she is yet starting year 2 so its too early to even judge for language), however, they think her german is not good and on assumption that she had language delay, she better go to that school.
Very strange. Logopädie and DaZ are completely different things. My son didn’t speak German before KiGa (although he attended KiTa twice a week for 2 years) and only started to talk a bit in KiGa. He also could not pronounce “R” properly (also in his native language) before the end of the first year in KiGa. But he didn’t have to go to Logopädie, while some local kids with native German attended it. He had DaZ lessons, of course, as well as other foreign kids.
What does Logopädie has to do with language knowledge? Isn’t it supposed to improve the pronunciation of certain sounds you struggle with?
) and by the way it won’t harm your own German if you sit with her and listen to the stories too. Have someone reading stories to her in German “Kinderbücher” with pictures, play children songs at home, in German of course … you know it all, you did it in English, no? Just do more and it doesn’t matter if you adults get sick and tired of it