Children with special needs are children who differ slightly from the majority group in terms
of socio-cultural, physical and personal characteristics. These children may attend a variety of
programmes, including regular primary school programmes, where they have the option of a
personalised programme, additional specialist support and a number of other adjustments to
facilitate the learning process. This master's thesis focuses on children with special needs at
Dobrova Primary School. In connection with the research topic, the thesis further investigates
the number of children with special needs at Dobrova Primary School, their special needs, and
the details of the additional support and adjustments. In addition, the thesis focuses on how
parents of children with special needs experience the identification process and the guidance
process for children with special needs, how pupils with special needs and their parents
experience the planning and implementation of additional support, and how inclusion of
children with special needs in the classroom community is ensured, as well as how this is
managed by the professional staff. The necessary data were obtained through interviews with a
nonprobability purposive sampling of children with special needs and a nonprobability
convenience of parents of children with special needs and professionals at Dobrova Primary
School. The results indicate that the selected primary school has a high proportion of special
needs children who are referred to a personalised programme with additional professional
support and receive various adjustments in accordance with their referral decision. Parents
experience the process of identification and guidance of children with special needs very
differently, and some parents find it easier to cope with their child's diagnosis, while others find
it very difficult. Both parents and children can be involved in planning additional specialist
support and in designing an individualised programme with different goals and activities. They
also recognise the many advantages and disadvantages of additional support. Children with
special needs at Dobrova Primary School are well integrated into the classroom community and
enjoy attending school, despite majority of the education staff considering themselves
insufficiently qualified to provide inclusion for pupils with special needs. Ultimately, it is
children with special needs who enrich the classroom community, in spite of the fact that
working with children with special needs is a demanding job and a challenge for many staff
members.
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