The aim of the paper is to explain the role of the assistant in the adjustment of the child with special needs to the kindergarten, but also to emphasize that the legislation of the Republic of Croatia does not provide an assistant in kindergarten, which is not the case in practice. For this reason, the first chapter presents the current situation of a child with special needs in a kindergarten in a legal context, referring to the relevant official documents. The research in this paper examines the role of the assistant during the child's stay in the kindergarten from the perspective of the assistant. In this research particular attention is paid on how the assistant influences the social interaction between children with special needs and other children and other adults in kindergarten. Also, this research examines the motivation of assistants for the job, the types of special needs of the children with whom the assistants work; the quality of cooperation with the parents of the child they assist and with other co-workers is also assessed, the education of assistants is determined, and ultimately there is assistant perception of their role in working with the child with special needs. The results of the research show that the assistants are mostly intrinsically motivated for the job, and they acquire their knowledge mainly through the education organized by the kindergarten in which they work. In addition, assistants believe that there is room for improvement in collaboration with co-workers and especially parents. Research findings indicate that assistants have a positive influence on the development of the social skills of a child with special needs and that they improve social interaction between them and their peers. The results of assistants self-assessments of their role show that they consider their primary task is to enable the child to care for himself or herself as independently as possible, to monitor the progress of the child, and to improve social interaction and communication between the child with special needs and other children in the group.