Glossary

The Swedish school-support system, explained

The words schools, parents and municipalities use when a student needs support, in plain language. Each term links to a fuller explanation, and to what it means for students with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.

The support staircase

Ledning och stimulans Guidance and stimulation

The guidance and stimulation every student is entitled to inside ordinary teaching. It is the first and broadest level of support, and it applies before any formal decision. For many neurodivergent students, good ledning och stimulans is most of what they need.

Extra anpassningar Extra adjustments

Smaller adjustments within ordinary teaching, such as a checklist, a quieter room, more time, or instructions broken into steps. Today it is a separately regulated step, but that regulation is set to be abolished on 1 July 2028.

Särskilt stöd Special support

More intensive support that needs a formal decision by the principal, when ledning och stimulans and extra anpassningar are not enough. It is documented in an åtgärdsprogram and follows the student until the need is met.

Åtgärdsprogram Action programme

The document that records a decision on särskilt stöd. Skollagen says it must set out the student's needs, the measures, who is responsible for each, and how and when they will be followed up.

Utredning av behov av särskilt stöd Investigation of support needs

Before a school can decide on särskilt stöd, it must investigate what the student actually needs. This is where a vague worry is meant to become a concrete plan, and it is often where the process stalls.

Anpassad studiegång Adapted study path

A form of särskilt stöd that departs from the ordinary timetable or set of subjects. Under the 2028 reform it may be decided only once all other options for särskilt stöd are exhausted or judged unsuitable, because it can narrow a student's future choices.

Who does what

Huvudman The responsible authority

The body legally responsible for a school: the municipality for a municipal school, or the private operator for a friskola. The huvudman is ultimately accountable for meeting the duty to give students support, and can be fined when it does not.

Rektor Principal

The principal leads the school and makes the formal decisions in the support process, including the decision to provide särskilt stöd and to establish an åtgärdsprogram.

Elevhälsa Student health team

The team every school must have, covering medical, psychological, psychosocial and special-education competence. It is the frontline meant to identify and support struggling students early, and reporting points to it being severely stretched.

Skolverket National Agency for Education

Sweden's national education agency. It sets the curricula and grading criteria, produces official statistics and guidance, and supports schools in carrying out their assignment.

Skolinspektionen Schools Inspectorate

The state inspectorate that supervises schools. It can issue injunctions and conditional fines, and year after year it names support for struggling students as one of the most common and most serious deficiencies it finds.

SPSM Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools

Specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten, Sweden's national agency for special-needs education. It advises schools, runs special schools, and defines what makes a learning environment accessible to every student.

Skollagen The Education Act

Sweden's Education Act (2010:800). It is where the right to support is written down: every student is to be given the guidance and support they need to reach the goals, and support may not be made conditional on a diagnosis.

NPF Neurodevelopmental conditions

Neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar: the Swedish umbrella term for neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD, autism and dyslexia. The government estimates one to two students with NPF in every classroom.

Tillgänglig lärmiljö Accessible learning environment

A learning environment, pedagogical, social and physical, in which every student can take part and reach the same goals as their peers. SPSM's model describes what it takes; the pedagogical part is the one neurodivergent students most often lose.

Hemmasittare School refuser / extensive absence

A student with extensive school absence. It is rarely a first cause and usually the end of a long chain of unmet needs, and neurodivergent students are disproportionately affected. Sweden does not yet count absence in regular national statistics.

Läsa-skriva-räkna-garantin The early-support guarantee

The guarantee for early support measures in reading, writing and maths, meant to catch difficulties in the youngest years. Skolinspektionen found it was not delivering as intended, and it is set to be abolished on 1 July 2028.

Behov, inte diagnos Needs, not a label

The principle that the right to support is decided by the student's needs, not by a diagnosis. A school may not make support conditional on a label, which matters because a neuropsychiatric assessment can take months or years.