Re: Special needs kids told to stay home, April 28

Special needs kids told to stay home, April 28

It appears that the special needs chickens are finally coming home to roost. The situation described in the People for Education survey has been taking place over a long period of time despite the fact that “the province has increased special education funding by 67 per cent, to $2.72 billion, serving roughly one in five students.”

As a psychologist and school parent advocate for many years working in the schools, and having written a book on the subject, I have concluded we are looking at systemic problems within the school boards.

Many school personnel conducting classes with children who have special needs are inadequately trained; there is an ongoing lack of educational assistants, there are virtually no sanctions imposed on staff or enforcement of existing regulations and laws if legal responsibilities are not fulfilled; and caps on numbers of psychological assessments has led either to prolonged delays (while the deficits increase) or to private testing for up to $3,000.

Serious changes have to be made to the existing system to bring about vital improvement to the lives of many school children with exceptionalities. Failing this, reports such as the one cited will increase in frequency and intensity.

Dr. Norm Forman, Parents Advocacy in the School, Toronto

As the parent of a child with autism and a physician who practices evidence-based medicine, it appalls me that Education Minister Liz Sandals appears to be blind to the evidence used by her ministry to create PPM 140 (Policy/Program Memorandum 140) in 2007.

This “Report of the Minister’s Autism Spectrum Disorders Reference Group” was developed to provide the minister with “effective, evidence-based educational practices to meet the wide range of needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).” It was accompanied by a 215-page implementation package for educators, “Effective Educational Practices for Students with ASD.”

While Liz Sandals sloughs off the report by People for Education with a vague promise for change in the coming four years, autistic children like my daughter stand alone in the school yard where they are frequently subjected to bullying and continue to fall further and further below grade level in the classroom. They come home to us in tears about how “stupid” they believe themselves to be.

As a physician, I am expected to provide evidence-based help for people with autism such as that recently outlined in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. But when it comes to education, it appears, our government is content to let our most vulnerable children suffer while our minister ignores the solutions that this province has already mandated.

Dr. Melissa Melnitzer, Toronto

In my experience, the practice of excluding autistic students from public education in Toronto is not new and not specific to Adam Beck public school. Fifteen years ago my daughter was excluded from Grade 2 until I hired a lawyer and appropriate services suddenly became available.

Many years later my son was kicked out of one school’s autism classroom after three days. After missing two months of school, he was transferred to a new school where his attendance was limited to one hour a day, half of which was recess, even though he was placed in a segregated special needs class with a much higher level of staffing than a mainstream classroom.

In February 2011, my MPP (Glen Murray) arranged a meeting for another parent, my son and I to discuss this issue with policy advisers from the Ministries of Education and Children and Youth Services. We’re still waiting for a reply.

Your story notes the significant increase in funding over the past few years – almost $3 billion – yet Toronto students continue to be denied access to publicly funded education. The issue, in my view, is not funding but accountability.

Stephanie Griffiths, Toronto

It’s sad to read this kind of article. Half of the elementary principals interviewed have told special needs students to stay home mainly due to lack of funding.

Education Minister Sanders is phasing in a new funding model that will provide greater fairness and equity in the education system. How fair and equitable is the current education system when the government of Ontario continues to build separate schools, which deny access to non-Catholic students and teachers. Whatever happened to universal access to publicly funded institutions?

Other provinces have amended the constitution to allow for one publicly funded education system accessible to all. All that is needed is the political will. In addition to substantial savings, merging the separate system into one publicly funded education system would provide greater fairness and equity for the benefit of all Ontarians.

Peter van Tol, Mississauga

As a pediatrican who sees many children identified by the school board as exceptional, I have seen this practice of telling the parents to keep their child home increase in frequency, but I was surprised that it has become so prevalent.

If the principal of the school considers that they do not have the available resources in the school to provide a safe and appropriate education for one of their children, then the appropriate response according to the regulations is to call a Review IPRC meeting to review the placement decision and see if there are the appropriate resources in that placement.

The committee, which is composed of three supervisory officers of the board, can then review the services available in the school and assign more resources if needed, or change the placement. The parents themselves can request a Review IPRC meeting, if they do it in writing. This is the advice that I give to the parents of my patients.

Telling or asking the parents (and it is nearly always done verbally) to keep their child at home is only sweeping the problem under the carpet, until it becomes so widespread that it cannot be ignored. Addressing the problem, in the manner I have described above, would have alerted the board earlier, and allowed for appropriate strategies to be developed.

I don’t have any easy answers, but from my experience, ensuring appropriate training, particularly for the EAs who are in the front line, as well as closer collaboration with knowledgeable and skilled therapists provided by outside agencies, will be critical components.

Dr. Mark Handley-Derry, Toronto

Education Minister Liz Sandals states that “the province is phasing in a new funding model over the next four years that will provide greater fairness and equity in the education system to ensure that our most vulnerable students are getting the support they need.” I have some concerns about this new funding model.

It is based on a Special Education Statistical Model developed by Dr. J. Douglas Wilms (University of New Brunswick) that to my knowledge has never been validated as to its reliability in any other school system.

The basis of this model is that Dr. Wilms claims to be able to predict the number of special needs students in a school system by area code. So this new funding model will be based on prediction of students rather than actual number of students while the rest of the school population will be funded on actual numbers. Fair and equitable?

The second issue is that this statistical model is based on demographic data from the 2006 census which is eight years out of date and can never be verified since the census no longer exists in that form. The recession of 2008 caused significant upheaval in the demographics used and this new data is not part of the prediction model.

Seven out of the 9 demographics that the model is based on (2006 Census) have to do with socioeconomic status and the likelihood that a child will receive special education programs is estimated with the model. This is despite associations such as learning disabilities, Down syndrome and autism that have shown that special needs are not related to low socioeconomic status.

The school boards do not collect data on the demographics that the model is based on and the census no longer exists so there is no way to ensure that this prediction model is accurate.

The only way for this prediction model to be proven to be a better way to fund special education is to run a pilot project where the model predicts the numbers of special needs students and then have the actual numbers are verified with the prediction. To my knowledge that has not been done.

Sharon Walker, North Bay

I have worked as an education assistant at the TDSB for over 20 years and can confirm that support for special education students is at an all time low. My small school has lost 80 per cent of its special education support over the past several years (I’m the only one left and I have been cut to a half-time position) while the school population has doubled.

Students who need one-on-one support are not receiving it. Teacher workloads are such that these students are lost in the system and their educational needs are not being met. Students become bored, disruptive, frustrated and anxious. Behaviour deteriorates and self esteem plummets. It’s very sad to see.

Teachers increasingly need the valuable and relatively inexpensive support of special education assistants in their classrooms. The system has been gutted and its time to rethink and address our special education policies.

Linda Polak, Toronto

The failure of public schools in Ontario to adequately support the inclusion of special needs students will not be solved by simply increasing the funding to school boards. The other two major issues that must be addressed include the allocation of the funding and the skill level of the school staff.

Presently, school boards have the flexibility to make their own decisions about allocating funding. Rather than the ministry dictating to school boards how funds are to be spent, each school board independently prioritizes their own spending.

If school boards do choose to spend the increased funding on hiring additional staff, will they be addressing the huge skill deficit of the special needs staff? Hiring more staff that are ill-equipped to work with special needs students serves no benefit. This issue will not be solved by simply making it a numbers game.

Let’s get to the root of the problem which is the lack of accountability and transparency in school boards in Ontario.

Louise Vonghia, Georgetown

I am appalled at this practice, and at some of the online comments by readers. My autistic 21-year-old daughter completed school last year, and during most of her school career, was fortunate enough to be placed in classes for special needs students. We are very thankful that our board had those resources available. A lot of boards don’t, and many kids are relegated to second class status as a result.

The schools refuse to hire their own behaviour therapists, but won’t allow private therapists to work in the schools. Sadly, often the first place budgets are cut is special education.

As parents of special need students, we pay taxes just like everyone else, and our children deserve to be educated. Sending them home is unacceptable.

Sharon Anderson, Mississauga

People for Education’s latest report brings to light the fact that children with additional needs are told to stay home - more often than you would care to know.

One vital point that needs to be shared is Director Quan’s Action Plan, for the TDSB. She envisions that special needs students in Intensive Support Programs (ISP) will be reduced by 50 per cent, by June 2017.

How can more special needs students be placed into regular classrooms, when at present, the supports are bare? EAs, SNAs, teachers, admin staff alike are struggling to deal with the day to day needs the students face, as well as continuing the learning curve for all. Lack of training for a variety of exceptionalities is front and centre.

Staying home is not the solution. Adequate funding for support staff, training as well as a welcoming attitude will bode well for all. We expect nothing less.

Lillian Wagman, Toronto

It appears that the Minister of Education has finally admitted that the government of Ontario discriminates against those with special needs. If you have to provide “greater fairness and equity” to children with special needs, as Minister Sandals says, then, obviously, there are inequities in educational opportunities and education for these students.

Certainly, denying access to a five-hour instructional day because there are not support staff, trained staff, busing problems, etc. is unacceptable. How can Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, state that this is “understandable”? Those students who need these educational opportunities the most are being denied access to it.

Why is it that the most vulnerable in our population don’t have their voices heard? The Minister of Education, the TDSB and People for Education were first informed of these problems years ago.

But, this is the tip of the iceberg. Other inequities also exist. Individual education programs for students with special needs frequently do not meet the legislated requirements and Ministry of Education standards. The Minister of Education is not ensuring compliance even though the minister is legislated to do so and even though the ministry audits have shown definite problems.

To resolve this unacceptable, inequitable situation, the Minister of the Education must begin to enforce the legally mandated educational requirements and ensure the government’s and board’s compliance to the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Stories such as these don’t exist in a just society. What is Premier Kathleen Wynne willing to do to finally correct these inequities?

Janis Jaffe-White and Reva Schafer, Toronto Family Network