Are special needs kids giving a raw deal by the government? ( Archived) (7)

Well pretty much everyone else is. Why should special needs kids feel left out? It happens in most places around the world. Governments everywhere are cutting back.

Either that or it´s the gov way of re-instating "special schools" for special needs children without ever having to admit they made a mistake when they closed them all down. Or having to admit that when they closed them down they didn´t offer sufficiently well organised alternatives of support. With the result that neither some of the mainstream kids nor the ones with special needs received adequate education for years.

You ever tried teaching a class of 25/30 (easily distracted) kids where there might be up to 4 or 5 children with special needs and only 1 classroom assistant? OR ever more challenging, a class of up to 20 students ALL with special needs ranging from mild learning difficulties, severe emotional and behavioural issues to physical disability & learning difficulties with only the support of 2 to 3 classroom assistants? It´s

In specials schools, classes are a lot smaller than in mainstream. Small groups mean the students get good learning support from specialised staff.

Most mainstream teachers have had little or no training in dealing with the needs of children with special needs.

That has been my personal experience in the UK for many years.

Í have mixed feeling about "separating" children with special needs from mainstream education. On the one hand, everyone gets a better academic education, on the other hand separating and segregating is not good on moral grounds, creating fear of the "differences".

For all children to attend the same schools/classes, education would need a complete re-haul. Cutting down on classroom assistants when there wasn´t ever near enough of them before is certainly not the answer.

having worked as a teacher for many years, it's a problem here in british columbia as well. parents are usually pretty good at advocating for their children, but with govt cutbacks...there's a constant shortage of educational assistants in the classrooms. and it's going to get worse before it gets better...

and the cutbacks aren't restricted to special needs...they extend to general supplies, athletic equipment, textbooks, it's across the board. we have to constantly fundraise just to have supplies in our classrooms. we are not permitted to charge fees for projects here, and i'm an art teacher; my budget is $15 per year to supply all materials a student requires for 10 months of full time art education...
jmho

hi EW


nicely stated!

i've actually had classes where there were five special needs students, ten students that didn't speak any english, five who spoke very little english, and eight more with identified behavior issues but not on government lists.
and the one EA was busy full time with one student as they required full time assistance. the other two special needs students became my full time responsibility while trying to manage classroom and teach.

it can take years here to have a child tested within the school system for special needs.
this is in a class of 30 to 32 students. 28 of the 32 had special requirements due to special needs, behavorial problems, or no english...that left five students that could actually do the work without direct assistance....so how much time do you think i could spend with them helping them prepare their folios to compete to get into post secondary institutions??....

i can spend a whole period just managing the chaos, not much instruction happening...it's really frustrating at times.

i love working with the students, and i love art...but i don't
have a lot of good things to say about our current educational system which is short changing everyone.

Thanks Jono.

Wow! Sounds like I had it easy compared to your very challenging situations.

Makes you wonder if what governments are after if an uneducated "future of society".

How severe is the childs Autism?

My own son, also Autistic, has a full-time SNA in mainstream. All the Autism units in our County and City were full when he was ready for formal education.

There are a few boxes that need to be ticked by the SENO (Special Education Needs Organiser) before the school will be awarded SNA's

Is the child a flight risk.
Can the child see to his/her own toileting needs
Is the child a safety risk to the other children in the classroom.
Can the child fed him/herself at lunchtime.
Can the child stay on task when given work to do.

The big ones are the flight risk and the safety of other children, obviously.

Has your friend tried St Joseph's or St Martins in the City? I do know that the unit in St Joseph's was to close for lack of numbers of students last year.