Identification of special educational needs - Slovenia

Identification of special educational needs 

The approach introduced in Slovenia recognises the needs of children with SEN as deficiencies, barriers and/or disorders that require changes or adjustments in the child’s environment or adaptation of the latter to the needs of the child. The medical approach to the child’s disability, in use during the seventies, has been abolished.

The guidance of children with special needs (2000, including amendments in 2006 and 2007) defines the groups of children with SEN as follows:

- children with mental disabilities;

- blind children and children with visual impairments;

- deaf children and children with hearing impairments;

- children with speech problems;

- children with physical disabilities;

- children with long-term illness;

- children with learning problems in specific fields of education;

- children with emotional and behavioural disorders.

The Act is based on the principle that a child's needs must be recognised as soon as possible and early childhood intervention of the latter are both dynamic processes, which occur simultaneously.