Lionel Birrer

Lionel’s reintegration process

Lionel visited a playgroup.
He had difficulty speaking.
Lionel was supported by a special education teacher.
The special education teacher visited the family back home. This is known as early years special education.

Lionel then visited a language therapy kindergarten for two years.
This is a kindergarten specialising in children who have difficulty speaking.
Lionel made great strides in these two years.
He then switched to a mainstream school.

There he attended 1st grade in a small class.
The small group allowed Lionel to receive better support.
This is because Lionel also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
This means that he is sometimes restless and impulsive.

«ADHD made things a little difficult. This is why we looked for a small class for Lionel.»

After a year, the small class was disbanded.
Lionel then switched to a special school.
He attended 2nd to 5th grade at the special school.
This special school at Special Residential School1 also had a residential facility.
Lionel spent two nights there every week.

Lionel performed well to very well in 5th grade.
Lionel was set to leave the special school at Special Residential School1 after 5th grade.
Changing to a mainstream school class was discussed, but ultimately not implemented.

There was an incident between Lionel’s parents.
This wasn’t an easy time for the family.
Afterwards, family support was provided by the KESB.
The KESB supports children and adults in difficult life situations.
This means that the family then had a deputy.

The parents separated.
At the same time, no place is found for Lionel at another school.
The deputy put pressure on the family: Lionel had to move to a children’s home or boarding school.
Otherwise, Lionel’s mother would have lost custody of him.
Lionel’s mother did not agree with this decision.
But she gave her permission.

«I said that I’ll make sure that my son gets out of the children’s home as quickly as possible.»

Lionel then switched to Special Residential School2 for 6th grade.
This was a very difficult year for Lionel and his mother.
Lionel’s mental health suffered during this time.
His mother did everything she could to get him out of the home.
Lionel, too, still wanted to switch to mainstream school.

After a year, Lionel was able to leave the children’s home.
His mother had applied for the change.
Lionel moved to Special Residential School3 in the canton of Bern.
This special residential school was more open to reintegration.
This was why Lionel’s mother chose this school.

Lionel switched to the new Special Residential School3 for 7th grade.
He lived in a residential group.
Lionel started well at the new school.

«He got off to a very good start. We also saw that he was very cautious in contact with his classmates. It took him some time to warm up.»

By this time, it was clear that Lionel has autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Lionel was shy at first.
Over time, he increasingly got rid of this shyness.
For example, he also dared to talk to other children.
He achieved very good results at the special school.
Lionel then spent only two nights a week in the residential facility.
He spent the remaining nights at home with his mother.

A few weeks passed at Special Residential School3:
His two teachers, Ms Zumstein and Mr Gerber, thought that Lionel should switch to mainstream school.
Lionel was very strong technically, was able to concentrate well and had reintegration as his goal.
They mainly worked with Lionel on interdisciplinary topics.
This means looking at how he can approach other children. How can he ask for help if he needs it.

«After six months, we were told that he was too good. They wanted to integrate him into mainstream school.»

After just six months in the new Special Residential School3, the reintegration was planned.
Lionel tried out the new mainstream school from the winter holidays to spring holidays in 7th grade. During these eight weeks, he attended both the mainstream school and special school at Special Residential School3.

«I had to write a letter of application. In other words, a letter in which I introduce myself. Afterwards, we started with one day of taster sessions per week. Then two days a week. Then three days. After about six months, I went to school there completely.»

The class teacher of the special school accompanied Lionel at mainstream school in the first few weeks.
Mr Gerber was able to support Lionel with 14 lessons per week.
This was possible because Lionel had special school status and was therefore eligible for support.
Lionel’s motivation was even greater after the taster sessions at mainstream school.
The number of taster days at mainstream school was increased more and more.
At a certain point, it was no longer necessary for the class teacher to accompany him.
As a result, there was less and less support.

«We were able to tackle this ourselves. Things went much faster. And you could organise such taster sessions very spontaneously, from school to school, without education counselling. The fact is that things then went very quickly. And were very straightforward.»

Before the spring holidays, there was a review with everyone involved: Lionel’s mother, his teachers from mainstream and special school and the school principals.
It was decided that Lionel should only attend mainstream school after the spring holidays.
However, Lionel retained special school status.
As a result, he was guaranteed a place in the special school at Special Residential School3 until the autumn holidays of 8th grade.

Lionel was assigned to a small class with nine classmates.
Initially, the teachers did not request any additional support for Lionel.
They thought that Lionel was so strong technically that he didn’t need any support when learning.
Lionel was also very motivated.

«We decided quite quickly that this would be good for you (Lionel), that’s what we’ll do. But we also knew that the technical side of things was not a problem – above all, he had to work on his social skills.»

There is only one other boy among his nine classmates.
The atmosphere in the class is not good: the group of girls torments Lionel regularly.
From 9th grade, a school social worker is brought on board as a result.

Because Lionel has special school status, he should have received support in the form of lessons from the integrative special primary school offering (bVSA int.).
These are special extra lessons that are for special-needs students in mainstream school.
However, since the special school place – and thus the support lessons – were still declared a separative measure until the autumn of 8th grade, Lionel did not receive any additional support for a long time.
This means that the lessons of the integrative special primary school offering (bVSA int.) to support him were kept at the special school.

«He still had special school status and support should have followed, but this was somehow kept at Special Residential School3 for a while.»

In 7th and 8th grade, the mainstream school was able to discuss the basic range of additional lessons.
There were four to six additional support lessons in Lionel’s class, known as integrative teaching lessons (IF).
Lionel agreed that two additional lessons of the integrative special primary school offering (bVSA int.) should be applied for in 9th grade.
In these two lessons, Lionel was to receive support in organising his schoolwork.

«Lionel resisted the extra support for a very, very long time because he felt that he didn’t need it. He tried so hard […]. He definitely didn’t want to be taken out of class and miss the work being taught […]. He definitely didn’t want that.»

At the time of the interview in summer 2023, Lionel had successfully completed 8th grade.
Lionel is very good at mathematics.
He switches status from a lower to a higher level of secondary education.
Lionel lives completely with his mother again.
Finding an apprenticeship is the big topic in the upcoming 9th grade.

What is the current situation?
In 9th grade, Lionel receives one lesson of additional support per week, i.e. one lesson from the integrative special primary school offering (bVSA int.).
Lionel had further foot surgery and suffered a sprained ligament.
He had to wear a cast for six weeks.
This delayed the search for an apprenticeship.
Lionel still has very good grades, but was unable to visit taster sessions due to the state of his health.
Disability insurance (IV) is now organising a 10th school year for Lionel to gain more time.
Currently, a suitable school still needs to be found, where the costs can be taken over by the IV or then financed by Ms Birrer.