When Finn Hilder, 11, sits cross-legged on the floor, carefully colouring in a book, his body is bent over his legs, almost flat to the floor.

The Launceston boy has Down Syndrome.

His mother Rachel Graham-Hilder says until recently he attended a mainstream school but the challenge of keeping him safe got too hard.

"Fencing was a major issue," she said.

"Finn didn't go out beyond the school grounds too many times but it was five times too many."

Receiving phone calls to say her son was missing was frightening.

"Absolutely terrifying, heart-wrenching. That shouldn't even happen, I mean if he'd been killed there's no going back," said Mrs Graham-Hilder, who has since moved Finn to a special school.

Inadequate fencing and supervision are some of many issues highlighted in an education survey of 30 Tasmanian parents who have children with Down Syndrome.

Down Syndrome Tasmania found there were many inconsistencies in the treatment of children with the genetic disorder in the public, private and special school systems.

Parents reported vast differences in how much time each student spent with a teacher's assistant, with responses varying from just one hour a week to up to 38 hours.

The report's author Rebecca Kelly says one parent reported that their child can only attend school part-time because a full-time assistant is not available.

"The relationship isn't there between needs and those hours so we know that there are clearly cases where children have a very high need for aide time who aren't receiving any substantial time," she said.

Lack of support, inclusion and training

Another parent, Jason Roach, says poor communication and a lack of support are letting down his five-year-old son at the mainstream school he attends with his older brother.

"Last year he was part-time kindergarten and up until September there wasn't really anything in place for him so pretty much his year was gone before anything was addressed," he said.

"We would like him to start being included in the mainstream school, at the moment he's sort of restricted at playtimes and that."

Mr Roach says trying to deal with the problems at school has put a strain on his marriage.

"The wife and I are quite strained at times and she's a bit more forthcoming to sort of go straight at them hell-to-leather."

Dr Kelly says the issue of inclusion comes up regularly.

"We have teachers' aides that are doing a wonderful job, they work wonderfully with our kids, and they've got a high level of skill and knowledge," she said.

"But we've also got other teachers' aides that we're finding don't have those skills and are almost acting to exclude children from mainstream education and take them separate to the class, rather than working with our children to include them in mainstream activities."

The report identified a serious lack of training for teachers and their assistants.

Dr Kelly says very few had received any professional development to give them adequate skills for teaching children with Down Syndrome.

"It's not fair to our children, but it's also unfair to the teachers and to the broader school community that our children are placed in schools where no one's been given the skills to teach them," she said.

The report has recommended training for all teachers and assistants who have children with Down Syndrome in their classes.

Other recommendations include a needs-based approach to funding and the development of better procedures to address parents' complaints about the support they are receiving or potential breaches of anti-discrimination legislation.

"Our kids have the right to an education and a proper education means adapting the curriculum for them and creating an inclusive environment," says Dr Kelly.