Mélanie Pellaud Zermatten
Qualified special needs educator (HES)
Founder of the Terre des Sourires association
I support children and teenagers whose school, social or family life has become hard to understand or to sustain. I also work with their parents and with the professionals around them, when a situation calls for several perspectives to be brought together.
Over the course of my career, I have met children newly arrived in Switzerland in sometimes very difficult circumstances and speaking foreign languages, children with ASD, ADHD or learning disorders, and also young people in crisis and in great difficulty.
These experiences, in very different settings, have reinforced one conviction: a behaviour or a difficulty never sums up a person.
Background
At the crossroads of education and teaching
I graduated in specialised education from the Geneva University of Social Work in 2010, and have developed my experience in the socio-educational field, in mainstream and special-needs teaching, in training and in project coordination.
I have worked with children, teenagers and adults with special needs in a range of settings: institutions, mainstream school, special-needs teaching, support for young people in crisis and help for struggling apprentices.
Today, with nearly ten years' experience in special-needs teaching, my work in an institution and a special-needs education centre keeps me directly involved in the realities of the field. This dual culture, both educational and teaching, helps me understand what schools expect while keeping constant attention to what the child is experiencing behind their results, their behaviour or their difficulties.
Passing on knowledge and continuing to learn
From 2011 to 2026, I worked within a University of Social Work in Switzerland, as an external contributor and field mentor. This teaching role led me to make professional choices explicit, to connect theory and practice, and to keep a constant reflection on the educational stance.
I have recently completed in-depth training on ADHD, and I am currently training on ASD (autism spectrum disorder). I also continue to train in the field of learning, notably around Universal Design for Learning. In a constantly evolving field, ongoing training, the confrontation of viewpoints and the analysis of practice are essential.
A lasting commitment with Terre des Sourires
Nearly two decades ago, I founded the Terre des Sourires association in Geneva, which I still chair and run today.
Active among rural communities in Laos, the association has notably contributed to building wells and a primary school, then to developing community water kiosks based on a logic of local autonomy and social entrepreneurship.
Leading these projects in Switzerland and Laos taught me to analyse needs, coordinate teams, work with many partners and maintain a shared vision in complex situations. This experience directly shapes my current practice.
When a child is surrounded by several adults or professionals, the challenge is not necessarily to add yet another practitioner. It is often about helping the people already there to share their observations, clarify their roles and build objectives that work together.
My approach
My approach is holistic, individualised and systemic. It takes the child into account, but also the relationships, expectations, environments and constraints that shape their daily life.
It is also collaborative: objectives are not defined for the child and their family, but with them. Proposals are explained, tested and adjusted according to how genuinely useful they are.
Finally, it is complementary. I work within the limits of my professional field and, when the situation requires it, alongside specialists in health, education or the cantonal services.
Understand before judging. Connect before opposing. Adjust to help move forward.
My principles
Looking beyond the visible difficulty
Opposition, withdrawal, restlessness or refusal do not, on their own, tell us what a child is experiencing. I seek to understand the function of the behaviour, the context in which it appears and the needs it may express.
Starting from strengths
A difficulty can take up so much space that it ends up hiding everything that works. Identifying the child's skills, interests and successes makes it possible to build strategies that are more motivating and more solid.
Acting concretely
Understanding is essential, but it must also make action possible. I favour clear objectives, tools that are workable in everyday life, and adjustments that can be observed and then re-evaluated.
Respecting everyone's place
The child, their parents, the school and the professionals each hold part of the understanding. My role is to support dialogue without taking the place of the skills or decisions of the other people involved.
Adapting the environment, not only the child
Supporting a child is not only about asking them to make more effort. It may be necessary to make an instruction clearer, to structure a task, to anticipate a transition or to adjust the way the adults communicate.