Special Needs Curriculum

This is the purpose-built Special Needs programme — not the mainstream curriculum with adjustments added on. It runs from Grade R to Grade 10 and is designed from the ground up for children who learn differently, so that a child can finally show what they can actually do.

What is different about it

• Untimed, always. No assessment runs against a clock.
• Pause, repeat, rewind. Every lesson can be stopped and replayed as often as needed.
• Placed by level, per subject — where your child actually is, not where their age says they should be.
• Multisensory lessons, visual and interactive, built for how they process.
• Assistive technology built in — audiobooks, text-to-speech and more.
• English and Afrikaans.

Who it is for

Children with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, dyspraxia, global developmental delay and other learning differences. The adjustments follow the child rather than the label: a learner with ADHD gets shorter lessons and untimed tests; a dyslexic learner gets visual aids, audiobooks and assistive technology. Same programme, shaped per child.

A diagnosis on its own does not decide the right curriculum. The team looks at your child's current learning level, strengths, support needs and longer-term goals before recommending a starting point.

The part parents most need to understand

This programme runs to Grade 10 and then leads into a skills or artisan path. It is not the route to a National Senior Certificate.

If your child can reach formal CAPS outcomes when the barriers are removed, Special Needs CAPS is the better pathway — same national curriculum, Grades R to 12, with a SACAI-registered FET route to a matric. That distinction is the single most consequential decision in this part of the school, and it is worth a conversation with the team rather than a guess.

One more thing to be clear about: this is an educational programme, not a diagnostic, medical or therapeutic service. Families should keep working with their own health or therapy professionals where that support is needed.

Not sure this is the right one?

• Your child can do the work but cannot show it under normal conditions → Special Needs CAPS
• Your child has fallen behind and needs to catch up and rejoin mainstream → Remedial CAPS

Details and fees for the Special Needs programme are on the main Saving Grace site.