TANNE – Swiss Centre of Competence for the Deafblind

Tanne's clients are people with congenital multi-sensory impairment. Some of them are completely deaf and blind, many have residual vision and/or residual hearing, and most are confronted with additional cognitive and physical difficulties.

The aim of our work is to support our clients in developing their skills, in their ability to share with others and to enjoy life. With this goal in mind, we in particular foster the development of our clients' communicative and sensory perception skills.

We support their communicative capacities by creating individual forms of communication together with them, by making the world accessible through touch and by offering appropriate means of communication such as tactile sign language.

We strive to tap the potential of our clients' residual vision and hearing and we support the development of all their senses, in particular the tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular senses, to enable them to experience the world through the channels available to them.

Reliable emotional bonds between our clients and those working with them on a daily basis are indispensible for the development of both sensory and communicative skills. Being there as reliable partners in daily life represents, therefore, a key task.

Tanne provides early support for infants and toddlers, a day school and a residential school for children and teenagers, a home and suitable work for adults as well as a range of different therapies (such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, therapeutic horseback riding and aqua-motion).

Providing support to people with multi-sensory impairment requires transdisciplinary cooperation. Tanne exchanges experience and knowledge with special needs education experts and with scientists. We offer our specific competence to other institutions or individuals engaged in supporting people with multi-sensory impairment.

Tanne is a private, politically and denominationally independent social enterprise.