«We would have been spared a lot of suffering with such counselling»

"When Samantha started kindergarten, she showed signs of behavioural problems. She is very open-hearted and struggles to find the right level of interpersonal closeness and distance.

Through the family classroom (FKZ), we as parents were able to experience how Samantha reacts in a group. We were able to make her aware of the reactions her behaviour triggers in others and how she can change this: She used to approach all the children and teachers, hug them and tell them everything. If they then reacted negatively, she was frustrated.

She wanted to be involved in everything and became quick-tempered when things didn't go her way. Through the FKZ, she learnt to ask others before hugging them and not to get involved in conflicts. Thanks to role play, we found out that she provokes others when she is teased because she didn't know how to deal with it. Now she can behave differently in such situations.

Samantha behaves conspicuously when there are disagreements at home.

Even at home, she now tries to express her opinion calmly. She would like us to be even closer to her, to listen to her more intensively and to keep calm in conflict situations. Taking part in the family classroom together has strengthened our relationship with her.

My husband and I both had a difficult childhood and were unfortunately only able to acquire certain social skills as adults. If we had experienced such a large social counselling network as children as Samantha has now, we would have been spared a lot of suffering.

We appreciate that our daughter is supported by counsellors, family classrooms, family support and the teachers for integrative support and psychomotor skills.

Before the family classroom, I withdrew with my daughter and often felt like a bad mum. I quickly felt stigmatised by other parents. Now I am much more confident in my role as a mum. And Samantha also develops self-confidence when she realises that she can use strategies from the family classroom at school.

The interaction between the school and us parents is good and we are in open dialogue with each other. We now know that Samantha behaves conspicuously when there are disagreements at home. The teachers, in turn, have learnt to establish open communication with our daughter so that she doesn't feel the need to rebel.

However, teaching in a class of twenty children still means sensory overload for Samantha. She can usually only concentrate well until the snack break. In addition, with the current childcare ratio, the teachers do not have the opportunity to look after children like our daughter sufficiently.

Despite all the progress in the family classroom, we have therefore decided together with our counselling network that she will move to a small socio-educational class. However, she can return to her old school at any time if she wishes."