Daycare, school and the transitions between
Daycare, school and transitions bring different demands. Clear agreements should take your child’s communication, needs and strengths into account.
Children on the autism spectrum often manage better at daycare and school than parents fear — as long as the conditions are right. It almost always becomes difficult in the same places: at transitions.
The move from daycare to primary school. The change to secondary school. A change of teacher, a new class composition, a house move. In these phases what was painstakingly built up falls away: familiar people, familiar routines, familiar rooms.
The good news: transitions can be planned. Unlike a meltdown in the supermarket, they announce themselves months in advance — and that time is exactly the lever.
Four things that make transitions easier
Starting early is more effective than reacting well.
Begin a year ahead
Choice of school, visits, conversations with the receiving institution: those who start a year in advance have a choice. Those who start in the summer have only the remaining places.
Pass on the profile
One page with the essentials — what calms, what overwhelms, how your child communicates. It saves the new institution weeks of finding out.
Agree on concrete adjustments
Extra time, breaks, a place to withdraw to, a different examination format. Exactly what is possible differs from one institution to the next — so ask early and put what you agree in writing.
Get to know the rooms beforehand
Visit the new building during the holidays, walk the route to school, look at the classroom. What is familiar costs no energy on the first day.
Read on in Mika Guide
In Mika Guide you will find preparation aids for conversations with daycare and school as well as the profile to fill in.
Preparing the parent meeting
What to write down beforehand so nothing gets lost in the appointment.
The profile for the institution
One page that explains your child — for teachers and support staff.
Arrangements that ease the day
Small changes to the daily routine that often achieve more than large measures.
Kindergarten and school support: an individual plan
Not lower expectations — a fair path to the same goal.
Transitions and Changes
It’s rarely the destination that’s the problem — it’s the leap in between. Transitions are often the hardest part of the day.
The app is free; the first section of this module is free to read, the deeper content belongs to Mika+ (one-time €9.99).
Before you go to the school: the words worth bringing
In every country this page is written for, there is a right to have the school adapt to your child — not only the other way round. The names differ; the pattern is the same everywhere. It is worth knowing before you walk into a conversation.
Four building blocks, present in some form in every country:
- A plan for your child. A document setting out what your child is to learn and how — by adapted routes, adapted task formats, sometimes adapted goals as well. This plan is not a medical certificate and not a demotion. It is written jointly, reviewed regularly and changed if it does not fit. You sign it too.
- A person alongside your child. Depending on the country it has a different name and belongs either to the education or to the social system. Its task is everyday accompaniment: routes, communication, transitions, sometimes care.
- A specialist in the classroom. Not for your child alone, but for the teacher and the class as well.
- A body that determines what is needed. A commission or team, usually from medicine, psychology, education and social work. It writes an assessment or a formal decision on the basis of which support is granted.
What applies in every one of these procedures — regardless of country:
- You can start it yourself. You do not have to wait for the school to suggest it.
- It cannot happen without your consent. A plan concerning your child needs your signature.
- There is a written decision. Do not accept being told only orally. What is written can be checked — and challenged.
- You may appeal. There is a route against every decision, usually with a deadline. Ask as soon as you receive it: by when can I appeal, and to whom?
- A plan is not final. It is reviewed, as a rule several times in the first year.
Three sentences you can take with you. They work in any conversation:
- “I would like to apply for a written individual plan for my child. What is this procedure called here, and who submits the application?”
- “Please give me the decision in writing, with a date.”
- “Who determines what support my child needs — and how do I get there?”
And what this page cannot do. It is read in six countries, and education law differs in each — in Bosnia and Herzegovina even within the country. What follows is the state of affairs I have checked, with a date. What binds is always the law of your country and the responsible authority. Where I could not support something with a source, I say so instead of guessing.
What it is called in your country
Five countries are listed here, those for which I found a reliable source. For Bosnia and Herzegovina I do not have one yet — better nothing than an official gazette number I cannot rely on. State of affairs checked on 10 August 2026, and for North Macedonia on 14 August 2026.
Serbia. The plan is called individualni obrazovni plan (IOP) and is governed by the law on the foundations of the education system (Art. 76). There are three forms: IOP1 adapts routes and means without changing the learning goals; IOP2 also changes goals and content; IOP3 extends and deepens the material for children with exceptional abilities. The plan is proposed by the institution’s tim za inkluzivno obrazovanje and adopted by the pedagoški kolegijum — your written consent is a precondition. In the first year the plan is reviewed quarterly, later at the start of each term or school year. Alongside it there are the pedagoški asistent (support in class, within the education system) and the lični pratilac deteta (everyday accompaniment, a social-welfare service organized and funded by the municipality — so it is not equally available everywhere). Additional support linking education, health and social services is decided by the interresorna komisija (IRK).
Croatia. The instrument is called primjereni program obrazovanja and is established by a rješenje (formal decision) issued by the competent ured on the proposal of a stručno povjerenstvo. There are four levels: redoviti program uz individualizirane postupke · redoviti program uz prilagodbu sadržaja i individualizirane postupke · posebni program uz individualizirane postupke · posebni programi za stjecanje kompetencija u aktivnostima svakodnevnoga života i rada. Autism (“poremećaji iz autističnoga spektra”) is expressly listed in the orientation list. The accompanying person is called pomoćnik u nastavi, and for children needing communication support stručni komunikacijski posrednik.
Montenegro. Children “with an impairment from the autism spectrum” are named expressly in the law. The plan is called individualni razvojno-obrazovni program (IROP). Placement is decided by the municipal education authority through a rješenje o usmjeravanju, on the proposal of the komisija za usmjeravanje djece sa posebnim obrazovnim potrebama (pediatrician, medical specialists, psychologist, educationalist, special educator, social worker); parents and the teacher take part in the commission’s work. Classroom accompaniment is called asistent u nastavi and the law expressly provides for it for children from the autism spectrum as well. There are also dodatna stručna pomoć, the mobilna služba and the resursni centri. Checked for 2021; changes after that I have not verified.
Slovenia. The route is called usmerjanje: on application a komisija za usmerjanje otrok s posebnimi potrebami examines the case and an odločba o usmeritvi is issued — a formal decision. It states which dodatna strokovna pomoč is granted and to what extent. Within 30 days of the decision becoming final the school must draw up an individualizirani program (IP), prepared by a specialist team appointed by the school management. Children with autism are named in the law as a group of their own.
North Macedonia. The need is established by a functional assessment under the МКФ (the international classification of functioning, known elsewhere as the ICF), which since February 2021 is a precondition for an assistant among other things. The assessment is carried out by the specialist teams of the Service for Functional Assessment of Children and Young People, set up at the end of December 2020. The person accompanying the child in class is called an obrazoven asistent (educational assistant): parents start the procedure through the school, and a specialist body at the Ministry of Education and Science decides on the basis of that assessment — the assistant does not arrive automatically with the diagnosis. The move from the older naod i mislenje (findings and opinion) to the functional assessment did not happen without gaps, so ask which documents are required now before you apply.
If your country is not listed here, the pattern from the previous section still applies: ask what the procedure is called, insist on a written decision, and ask about the deadline for appeal.
When things are not going well at the institution
If conversations repeatedly lead nowhere, if your child is excluded or the situation escalates, there are routes beyond the classroom: the head of the institution, the school psychologist and educational adviser, developmental counseling services and autism associations. You do not have to wait until it becomes unbearable.
What the support is called in your country
The instruments have different names and do not exist everywhere. This overview gives you the word to use at school — the authority in your country is always the one that decides.
- Serbia: individual education plan — IOP1 (adapted), IOP2 (modified) and IOP3 (for exceptionally able pupils), together with a pedagogical assistant and a personal companion. Moving to IOP2 requires an opinion from the inter-sectoral commission.
- Croatia: individualised educational programme (IOOP), together with a teaching assistant or a professional communication mediator — regulation, Narodne novine 85/2024 of 19 July 2024, which replaced the earlier one from NN 102/2018.
- Slovenia: placement decision (odločba o usmeritvi) and an individualised programme. From 1 September 2026 the new Article 10.a (ZUOPP-1B, Uradni list RS 12/2026 of 17 February 2026) explicitly provides that children with autistic disorders may be assigned the help of a companion by placement decision.
- Montenegro: individual developmental and educational programme (IROP).
- North Macedonia: an educational assistant, granted on the basis of a functional assessment under the МКФ; parents start the procedure through the school and a specialist body at the Ministry of Education and Science decides.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: education is a matter for the cantons and entities; there is no single nationwide regulation. We did not find a reliable source covering all cantons — ask the school and the responsible ministry.
For Serbia, a new service called “inkluzivni pratilac” has been mentioned in the press since July 2026. We could not confirm this in the official gazette — check with the responsible authority before relying on it.
Which rights and support measures exist is governed by the law of your country and changes over time — check this with the responsible institution or an association. Changing institution is not a failure; sometimes it is the decision that changes everything.
As of August 2026. This is the situation at the time the page was written and it can change: rules, procedures and the names of institutions change. Check what applies at the time of your application with the responsible authority.
Would you like to talk about it?
School support is now part of my self-employed work. If you have questions about school or an upcoming meeting, we can discuss your needs and possible next steps in an initial conversation.