A school-age child is a child who has reached the age of seven as of 1 October. If your child has already experienced difficulties in kindergarten, it is prudent to contact an extracurricular counselling team, i.e. a regional Rajaleidja centre to receive recommendations before the child enters school (in the winter or early spring preceding the first school year). Each county has at least one counselling team, whose job is to make recommendations on which group to choose for a child for acquiring basic education, whether compulsory schooling should be postponed, whether a child under the age of seven may be admitted to school, and how learning and teaching should be organised for a child with special educational needs. Each counseling team consists of at least five members, including a special educator, a speech therapist, a school psychologist, a social worker, and a representative of the county or city government. If necessary, the counselling team may also include other experts in its work. For more information about the extracurricular counselling teams, contact your regional Rajaleidja centre or local government. The counselling team’s evaluations may reveal that the child needs to be placed in a special needs group, their compulsory schooling needs to be postponed, they need adapted learning, etc. If necessary, the child will undergo additional psychological or medical examinations, and the counselling team will issue a recommendation on the best way to organise the child’s education. You can also contact the counselling team if the child is already in school but has had difficulty learning or coping in the group.

The counselling team can also recommend a school for children with special needs to the parent. Which school is most suitable for a child depends on the nature of their special needs. For example, there are schools in Estonia intended specifically for children with visual or hearing and speech disabilities. However, a special school may also be a general education school with a curriculum that is different from that of a regular school – i.e. a curriculum for students with mild learning difficulties, students with moderate learning difficulties, or students with severe and profound learning difficulties – and employing, in addition to teachers, various support specialists to ensure the greatest possible development of children. A special school is primarily recommended where a regular school does not have the necessary conditions and competence to organise, foster, and provide the required support services for the education of a child with special needs. The final decision regarding the school always rests with the parents, though it is advisable to consider the recommendations of the various specialists carefully. Note that the counselling team will also inform the child’s school of any recommendations for that student.

The acquisition of compulsory basic education and the organisation of studies for students with special needs in Estonia is regulated by the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act.

Basic education is provided on the basis of either the national curriculum or the simplified national curriculum for basic schools. Studies pursued under the simplified national curriculum may be either studies for students with mild learning difficulties (Estonian: lihtsustatud õpe), moderate learning difficulties (toimetulekuõpe), or severe and profound learning difficulties (hooldusõpe), depending on the child’s needs. The curriculum for students with mild learning difficulties is intended for children whose mental abilities make it difficult for them to keep up with their peers and who do not have the capacity to follow the regular curriculum. The curriculum for students with moderate learning difficulties and the curriculum for students with severe and profound learning difficulties are intended for children with the respective degree of intellectual disability. Those enrolled in basic school under a curriculum for students with mild, moderate, or severe and profound learning difficulties are entitled to an additional school year to finish their studies. Under the new law, the additional school year is also available to students studying under the national curriculum who are, due to their special needs, not yet mature enough to continue their studies at the next level or enter employment. The decision on whether to extend a student’s studies in this way rests with the school administrator.

How can a regular school support the learning of a child with special needs?
Each school employs a special educational needs co-ordinator, or SENCo, whose role it is to advise both the family and the teachers of a child with special needs. A SENCo will make suggestions on how the child should be supported in school, and collaborates with an extracurricular counselling team, if necessary. For a student who needs support, the school will draw up a record of individual development, which contains information about the support the child has received. At least once a year, the SENCo together with the teachers and support specialists will assess the effect of the support provided to the student and make recommendations on how to continue. The most common type of support provided in schools is remedial teaching. This is delivered through a variety of means. Teachers and school support staff (speech therapists, special educators, assistant teachers, school psychologists, and social pedagogues) can assist a student in a specific class or through counselling, tutoring, or remedial lessons. A child whose special needs make it difficult for them to study alongside their classmates and according to the designated work schedule may be assigned an individual curriculum. An individual curriculum sets out the ways in which the child’s teaching needs to be modified. For children who need special educational support or speech therapy, the school must provide additional support in the form of access to a remedial group. If there is a significant number of students with special educational needs in the school, the school may form special classes with fewer students and better opportunities for the teachers to apply an individualised approach. In some cases, a child may need the services of a support person in their studies. Support person services are available from the local government, and the content of the services is decided separately by each local government. Check with your local government social worker or child protection worker for options.