Finland: Autismisäätiö and Autismilliito.

Autsimesaatio was founded by parents. The daughter of one of Autismesaatio's founders liked to hold a  small container to her ear and then tap it gently. In response, the association had a likeness of it made in glass. These are displayed in a variety of colours throughout their office. I received one as a gift. 

 

From 1921, all Finnish children were required to attend school, but children with a (mental) learning disability were excluded from that obligation. There had been education for deaf and blind children and for children with physical defects since the mid-nineteenth century. And there were all kinds of private charity initiatives for children who could not keep up at school.

After World War II, in Finland as in the rest of Europe, special schools for children with all kinds of learning and adaptation difficulties were established by the governement. As early as the 1970s, integrated education for children with disabilities in regular primary schools was encouraged in Finland. For these children, the school had to implement an adapted, individual curriculum and sometimes, when necessary, a special class in the mainstream school .

In Finland, all preschool children have a right to kindergarten with guidance and care. However, municipalities are obliged to offer it. Early care for every child aims to ‘promote the holistic growth, development, health and well-being of every child’.

 

 

Since ten years ago, general nine-year primary education in Finland has a holistic basis, an open education form without classes.  New schools are being built for this form of education without traditional classrooms.

 

I talk about it with Vesa Korhonen of the (non-profit) organisation Autismisäätiö.

This organisation provides counselling, day care and housing for people with autism from around 18 years old. Founded in the late 1990s from a parents' initiative, the foundation owns houses or rents them where necessary and thus provides various forms of housing for people with autism. From assisted living, independent living with occasional help, to sheltered, where there is 24-hour help and supervision. In addition, the Foundation has day care centres for individually oriented counselling and day programmes.

 

The foundation has around 1,300 clients, about half of whom also live with them, spread across several cities. Vesa explains that municipalities in Finland are obliged to provide accommodation for everyone. A person in need of day care and/or housing facilities first reports to the municipality. The municipality then chooses which offer best suits that person's care needs.

Autismisäätiö is well paid for their services because the Foundation is able to purchase and build new houses. The Foundation is a non-profit organisation so profits are used to expand and improve the offerings.

 

Yet even this well-run organisation faces misunderstanding. I tell Vesa about the attitude of the Rotterdam municipality. If we at Acato take good care of a cliënt and it goes well with that cliënt, we are immediately cut back financially. Because then, according to the municipality, less money is needed for guidance. Vesa recognises it immediately. The understanding that people with autism always need the right guidance has not yet sunk in with the government in Finland either. Autismisäätiö is making efforts to lobby for this.

 

Finland's new form of education also raises concerns regarding children with autism.

Schools set up without classrooms, with a free learning environment appear less suitable for pupils with autism, as it is more difficult to provide structure.

 

This is what I talk about with Pia-Maria Topi from the organisation Autismilliito. Pia-Maria explains that the law on education has seen many changes in recent years. Secondary education, which follows the nine-year basic education, has since two years been compulsory for all children, including those with disabilities. For children with autism, this has proved to be a big problem because secondary schools are not familiar with the issues.

 

In Finland, children attend schools close to home. All schools offer the same thing in Finland. You cannot, as in the Netherlands, choose from different types of education.

At these schools there are three stages of support. The first level is for all children and concerns the normal support that every child needs from time to time. The second level concerns extra help in the classroom, for instance from a teaching assistant. The highest level of support is level two but more and, in the past, it could involve a separate class in the school and for example a separate curriculum.

 

Because of inclusive education and the new holistic form of teaching, ten years ago the special classes for children with learning difficulties, were abolished. Since then, it appears that this does not work. For children with autism, there is too little structure in this method and in the new kind of school. There is criticism coming from the government with regard to the new system and the diminishing opportunities it is causing for children with learning difficulties.

 

I ask Pia-Maria how important it is for Finnish schools to score well in terms of final exams. She says it is not so important. School results do not, like in the Netherlands, appear in the newspaper every year. Children who perform less are not the problem. Problems mostly occur because of the student's behavior. Inappropriate behavior almost always stems from not fitting in, not feeling good, not feeling safe, too crowded environment, too much pressure.

Pia-Maria does not know how many children in Finland do not go to school. Home schooling is allowed in Finland.

 

What do I learn from this visit?

 

Open schools with holistic education, i.e. without separate subjects, are not necessarily suitable for children with autism.

 

All children together at a primary school. Denmark and Sweden have that too. The choice for secondary education is made when they are sixteen. Inclusive does not only mean, or should not only mean, that disabled children are in school with other children. It also seems to me not conducive to an inclusive society to separate children at an early age and divide them between schools for smart and schools for less smart children.

 

No school results in the newspapers.