As the result of a public campaign, I have met alot of people in the same predicament as my family. Having a child with a disability in a mainstream school, in a mainstream class. Some of us have considerable additional support, some of us dont.
There are 2 things I would like to share.
1. Disability Standards For Action document.
“Disability Standards for Education were formulated under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and tabled in the Parliament on 17 March 2005. They came into effect in August 2005. The Standards clarify the obligations of education and training providers to ensure that students with disabilities are able to access and participate in education without experiencing discrimination.”
This is highlighted on our facebook site, by a wonderful mum (Thanks Larissa) who is very much in tune with the goings-on in the education system for children with special needs. All too often lately, Ive been hearing stories about families of children with special needs being railroaded and bullied into compliance….alot of the time, to the detriment of the child. This document will give you the starting point for fighting back when dealing with the irresponsible bureaucracy of schools that can sometimes rear their ugly head!
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/Programs/Pages/disabilitystandardsforeducation.aspx
2. FILLING OUT PAPERWORK IDENTIFYING AREAS OF NEED FOR SUPPORT OF YOUR CHILD.
In order for the school to put in their application for additional support for your child (i.e teacher’s aide time), the school will get you to fill out a huge questionnaire (usually about 100 questions) asking about all the things that your child can and cant do: life skills, money recognition, saftey awareness and the like. The questions will ask whether your child can do the task with assistance (Physical prompts, verbal assistance) or whether they can do it independently… THERE IS A TRAP FOLKS THAT YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF!! READ ON!!
As parents, we spend our lives thinking of all the possitives of our kids…we want to focus on all the things they CAN do…But Im here to tell you all, that in this case, the best thing you can do for your child is to focus on all the things they CANT do when filling out these questions. Think of your child’s WORST day…the worst case scenario..and write that!! You know that movie “The Ugly Truth” ? Well the uglier you make it, the better the chance to create for your child to get as much support as school as possible.
I did exactly that last year (I learnt about this because I also work in management for a disability service so I see this from the other side of the fence) and my son gets 20 hours a week support from a teacher’s aide. This equates to 4 hours a day!!
Working against your natural instincts to highlight the good in what your child can do is that hardest thing…and it will play havoc with you emotionally (it certainly did for me) but in the long run, it gives your child the best chance at the most help possible!
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That is great
but do you know if it applies to independant schools? I have never filled out anything for my 2 the schools does it all and applies for the funding.
Thanks for sharing babe
How are you?
I think its worth asking about. Tell them that you are aware that public (mainstream) schools get the parents to fill out the questionnaire and ask them what their policy is on it. Also ask to see the policy that covers whatever they tell you (if it is different to what Ive described)…
Once you start asking the questions, and questioning the status quo, then they know you are onto them and may be reluctant to pull the wool over your eyes or the rug out from under you!
