Country information for Luxembourg - Assessment within inclusive education systems

Early intervention

Once the evaluation of a child’s problems has been made in hospital, their parents are directed to Social Security, where they are informed about their rights: double family allowance, more paid leave, tax reduction etc.

The child can stay for a certain time in the hospital, where early intervention may begin. When they come home, a team from a medical organisation (hospital, rehabilitation centre, early intervention association) takes responsibility for the child. At the age of four, the child is enrolled in an educational organisation.

There are several services responsible for children with special needs during early childhood: these are functional or pedagogical re-education services.

Service de Rééducation Précoce

The ‘Service de Rééducation Précoce’ takes care of children from age 0 to 4 in order to:

  • observe;
  • evaluate;
  • screen;
  • guide;
  • treat; and
  • re-educate

This service comprises different specialists (doctors and paramedical staff) who support toddlers and small children (0–4 years old) with the following disabilities: 

  • Motor
  • Sensory
  • Learning and fine motor 
  • Communication and language
  • Behavioural 
  • Delayed development.

The multi-disciplinary team consists of: 

  • physiotherapists who are specialised in the re-education of early childhood motor disabilities;
  • occupational therapists dealing with sensory and co-ordination disabilities;
  • speech therapists guiding the re-education of language and swallowing difficulties;
  • psychologists who draw up development reports on the children and give advice in the case of educational difficulties;
  • specialist teachers who encourage social and cognitive development through group play; and
  • doctors specialised in functional re-education and re-adaptation who monitor the children’s reports, ensure relations with attending doctors and co-ordinate re-education.

Service d’intervention précoce orthopédagogique (Sipo)

This service is responsible for stimulating the development and orientation of children with special education needs. The Sipo is a non-governmental organisation founded on private initiative and recognised as being of common public interest. Its goal is to offer toddlers and small children with special educational needs or delayed development, educational stimulation in the family. This educational support involves close co-operation between the parents and the department of early intervention. It consists of giving educational and practical advice and discussing issues related to the child’s development. 

Early intervention is designed for children from age 0 to 6 presenting: 

  • delayed development or deficiencies in one or several fields (movement, perception, language, behaviour);
  • a disability (cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, multiple disabilities); or
  • risk of delayed development (e.g. pre-term birth, particular diseases).

Hellef fir de Puppelchen

This service operates in the same way as the ‘Service de Rééducation Précoce’ (SRP).

Both of these services are answerable to the Ministry of Health. The ‘Hellef fir de Puppelchen’ service supports children with special needs from the south and the east of the country, while and the SRP supports children from the centre and the north. 

The ‘Hellef fir de Puppelchen’ service consists of a multi-disciplinary team (specialist paediatrician, speech therapist, psychologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, specialised pedagogue).

This service offers motor and pedagogical stimulation in the family home or in the centre, depending on the availability and the needs of the parents.

Groupement d‘Etude et d’Aide au Développement de l’Enfant/Benjamin Club

This team of professionals offers its help to children and their parents. The aim is to improve as early as possible (between 0 and 4 years) development problems related to the social and familiar environment of the child.

Game groups (Benjamin Club) with educational animation (for children from 8 months to 4 years) are offered.

Service d’Education Précoce du Centre de Logopédie 

An early intervention service, designed for children from 2–4 years and focusing on speech and/or hearing problems, operates in the ‘Centre de Logopédie’. Parents can contact the responsible person of the service at the ‘Centre de Logopédie’ and make an appointment.

Audio-phonological unit

The audio-phonological unit is a service for detection and rehabilitation of communication disorders: language/speech/voice/hearing.

Service Orthoptique et Pleoptique

This is a service for detection of visual impairment (prevention, advice, reports dealing with medical prescription).

Compulsory schooling 

Parents, primary education inspectors and teachers are invited to identify and report children with special needs to the Commission medico-psycho-pédagogique nationale (CMPPN).

The organisation of the participation of children with special needs in mainstream schools involves a functional diagnostic assessment based on multi-disciplinary observations, allowing the establishment of an individual education plan for each child. Teachers, educationalists and other stakeholders draw up this plan in collaboration with the parents, and it is approved by the inspector.

Stakeholders may request a re-examination of the individual education plan during the school year in order to allow the child with special needs to develop properly.

The general duties of the CMPPN are to:

  • advise the Minister of Education in taking decisions about children with pedagogical, intellectual, emotional, sensory and social problems, who have difficulties in pre-primary, primary, and special education;
  • make sure that children with special needs are detected in pre-primary and primary education;
  • assist each person responsible for a child with special needs; and
  • recommend preventive measures and pedagogical assistance for children with learning difficulties.

For each child identified as having special needs, the CMPPN prepares a file containing the following information:

  • reports giving information about the specific problem (drafted by specialists);
  • a final psychological report, drafted by a member of the ‘Service de Guidance’ or by a psychologist from a special education centre;
  • reports drafted by services that supported the child before schooling;
  • a pedagogical report, drafted by a pedagogue from the ‘Service Ré-Educatif Ambulatoire’, giving information about learning possibilities and potential assistance measures;
  • a report by a social assistant from the concerned social service,
  • a report, drafted by a member of the Special Education Department, giving information about the parents’ opinion; and
  • a school evaluation developed under the responsibility of the inspector.

CPPN also:

  • makes proposals regarding schooling;
  • sends this proposal to the parents or the person responsible for the child, who take the decision on schooling;
  • receives the demand of transfer to a pre-primary, primary or special school of a child in a Special Education class;
  • gives advice in case of prolongation of the child’s school-time exceeding school obligation and in case of demands of dispensation of school obligation for health reasons.

Transition period 

The service for workers with disabilities (Service des Travailleurs Handicapés), which is answerable to the Ministry of Work, specialises in the professional orientation of people with special needs.

The duties of this service include:

  • vocational training, rehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation;
  • job finding; and
  • re-education and professional re-integration.

Each person with special needs may submit a request to receive the status of disabled worker. These persons have to fulfil the following conditions:

  • to be registered with the service for workers with disabilities at the administration of employment;
  • to have a physical, intellectual, sensory, psychological and/or psycho-social disability;
  • to be 16 years old or over; and
  • to have a work capacity reduced by least for 30% because of a disease, an accident or natural causes.

The person concerned has to contact the medical commission of the ADEM (public job centre) in order to find out about the formalities necessary to obtain the status of disabled worker and to be issued a form for the application for recognition.

The medical committee decides if the person has a right to disabled worker status. If disabled worker status is recognised, the medical commission passes the file on to the orientation and vocational redeployment committee. This committee decides if the person concerned should be guided towards the open labour market or towards a sheltered workshop.

 

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