on funding and brick walls

News headline in The Australian, 25 March 2015: "Disabled students suffer as funds dry up" (unfortunately the link displayed in my browser when I view the article seems to redirect to a subscriber only page! To read the article it seems to work if you search the title on The Australian home page)

It doesn't give me any pleasure to say that this is not news to me.

An answer to a letter

Do you remember when I wrote a letter to NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell? It was almost a year ago. 

Well, today I received a reply! 

I guess my email address was filed away in the PR office under "reply to with bulk email when we need to impress people who complained about the massive education budget cuts and/or removal of Disability Support Funding".

In case you can't read the text in the photo image of the email, it says this-

Historic Achievement for NSW Students, Teachers and Parents

Today the Prime Minister and I announced NSW would be the first Australian State to agree to the “Gonski” national education reforms.  

This is great news for students, teachers and parents. It will mean more resources and a fairer system – and assist our aim of higher standards and a better education for our children.

The agreement will deliver an additional $5 billion for NSW schools as well as continue the NSW Government’s education reforms, including improving literacy and numeracy, raising teaching quality and empowering principals and school communities to make local decisions.  

I am proud of this historic reform which could not have been achieved without your advocacy. I congratulate you for your efforts.

Yours sincerely

Barry O'Farrell MP

Premier

Isn't that nice? 

Except for a few things.....

Last year the state government removed $1.7 billion from the general NSW education budget.

The amount the NSW government is contributing to the Gonski reforms is... (wait for it)... $1.7 billion.

The amount in the letter the letter I received of $5 billion is misleading. He wants us to think that is coming from the NSW government, but in reality that is the amount coming from the federal government.

Although the fact that Gonski is going ahead in NSW is encouraging in that there is allowance for extra funding to be given to schools that have students with additional needs attending, there is no real sign of the disability support funding farce being resolved.

And how about this little gem.... Mr O'Farrell is going to pay for the states contribution by (among other things) cutting funding to TAFE (which is an educational institution) again! I can just imagine the discussion.....  "I know, let's fund the increase to education spending with cuts to the education budget". 

Call me a cynic if you will, but Mr O'Farrells statement that the NSW government will "focus on what's most important in education, which is giving our young people the best possible start and opportunities in life" seems a bit hollow. And his statement that "the state had always supported the Gonski principles and had been preparing the way for the funding overhaul" does appear to be true, however maybe not in the way he would prefer voters to believe.

I am still thinking about Every Student Every School

Yes, I *am* still thinking about Every Student Every School.

This is because it is still affecting my sons education.

For those of you who are new to the blog you might need to do some reading of older posts to understand exactly what I am writing about here. You can do this by using the search function at the top right of the page and looking for "Every Student Every School".

The short summary of the situation is that last year our state government decided that a good way to save money in the education system would be to remove most individually allocated disability support funding.

MasterL used to be allocated individual funding that allowed him to receive teacher aide support in his mainstream high school classes. The funding is now gone, so he does not get the support he needs.

Last year the school was able to minimise the impact this had on MasterL by fiddling with some existing funding. This year they can't do that anymore. I knew that would be the case, so I wasn't surprised when MasterL started to say things like "maths is too hard" and "I don't want to go to school today".

So when I met this week with the High School Principal, and then the Learning Support Unit Co-ordinator, to chat about how things are going this year I found myself in the position of - once again- having to sell my child's so called deficits to them in order to get some action. I have to use phrases like "communication impairment" and "selective mutism" and "inability to read social situations", instead of talking about how smart and funny and persistent and kind and creative he is.

I HATE having to do that.

And even after doing that, the reality is that there still just isn't the funding available to provide the social and communication support he needs at school. And again I am left with the unsettling feeling that people believe my son being given the opportunity to achieve his dreams and desires and reach his full potential is less important than other people being given the same opportunity. And that makes me angry because it is not fair.


He is just as much worth investing in. He has just as much potential to make significant and valuable contributions to society as anybody else. Failing to support him adequately simply for lack of willingness to provide a few extra dollars a year for his education is discrimination. I could go on and cite studies that prove financial expenditure now on education will prevent greater expenditure on welfare later, in an effort to convince the politicians. But really, why bother? They aren't going to change their policy. They are not interested in fairness or justice, they are interested in saving money in the short term so the majority will vote for them in the next election.

And frankly, my energy is better spent being there for my kids right now, when they need me, than repeatedly head-butting a system that doesn't care and won't change.


*I have used two images in this post that I have seen on Facebook, but I have been unable to find out who they images were originally made by. If they are yours or you know where they came from please let me know so I can give credit to the creators. Thank you.

Brave smart and strong..... my amazing son. And a rant about funding cuts.

I believe it was Christopher Robin who said you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. Well, technically, it would have been A.A. Milne who said it, I guess.

One thing that strikes me about my Autistic kids is how resilient they are. And how clever. I'll explain.

I go through the day and I process sounds, sights, smells and sensations. I interact with people appropriately. I plan and carry out tasks. I get from one place to another. I smile and laugh or look serious at the right moments (mostly). At the end of the day I am tired from doing all this.

My Autistic kids do the same things. The difference is that they do it all having learned by rote all the social cues and correct responses. They do it all from in the middle of dealing with a sensory system that interprets everything much more intensely- lights are brighter, sounds are louder, touch is painful. That has to be exhausting!

Every time they master skills they get busy using them well in their everyday lives, and then at some stage the rules change. They grow a bit older, and require a new set of more complex skills that they must rote learn and implement. Some stages have a few new skills to acquire, some have lots!

This past year has been a stage with heaps of new skills for my 13 year old Autistic boy to learn, as he started in Year 7 at High School this year, in a mainstream class. We did as much preparation as we could before hand, and off he went. Sadly, it is true that kids on the Autistic Spectrum are much more likely to be bullied than their peers (46% compared to 11%). This has proved to be the biggest issue my son has faced this year. We had him prepared to navigate hallways, deal with 7 teachers, able to cope with a daily timetable that changed over a fortnightly rotation, ready to plan out and manage assessment tasks. We have started teaching him more complex, adult style social cues and responses. What we couldn't get him ready for was having his lunch box stolen, being shoved in the hallways, being called rude names, having money demanded of him by other students, having his school bag urinated on and having his mobile phone stolen. We supported him through all of these things, with the help of our Psychologist and with the co-operation of the school.

Half way through the year the NSW Government took away his individually allocated support funding (click here to read my Open Letter to NSW Politicians expressing my concerns about the Every Student Every School Policy), and he lost time with the Teachers Aide who had been working with him. Things had been hard, but manageable before that. After the funding cut, things got very hard. Both my Hubby and I, and our sons teachers could see he was not coping as well socially.

Amazingly though, even with all the stress he was experiencing, my Brave, Strong, Smart son managed to achieve so well academically that the school has suggested he would be suitable for placement in a class for Gifted and Talented students next year. The suggestion was made as a way to support him better academically as well as socially, as the group of students he will be placed with are highly motivated to learn and much more of a predictable and mature social group.

Not only am I encouraged by the schools willingness to do this for my son, I am sure that it is the more suitable, more supportive environment my son needs to gain back his enjoyment of school and his interest in learning. And I am immensely proud of him! He never fails to rise to the challenges set before him, despite the extra difficulties he has to work through. Seeing him do that is one of my favourite parts of the journey of parenting Autistic children.

The rant part of this post is that the NSW Government should count themselves lucky that they are in the fortunate position of having staff working in their schools who are so committed to seeing kids with additional needs well support regardless of how much resources are stripped away from them. In our family we have already seen the trickle down effect the funding cuts are having. We feel very relieved that the schools our children attend are willing to work with us to make sure our kids get what they need despite having significantly reduced funding to work with. It angers me that the people who made the decision to take away the money that provides that support will never know what the real cost of their decision is and will continue to be.

But lets finish on a positive note. My son is amazing! He has worked hard. He has dealt with things he never thought he could. He has grown. He has persisted. He has achieved well. We are now winding down for the year, having a few days off here and there, even though school is officially still on. Soon we will have a nice long break from school. Next year is a new start in a more supportive environment. I am sure we are going to see more great things form him next year. If he could do so well this year, with all the extra awful things he's had to deal with, imagine how much more he will achieve with many of those stressors removed.

I am one very proud mum!

Half way through Term 4- funding cuts update

Half way through term four. Five weeks to go until a nice long break. Of course, they are the busy last weeks before Christmas where all the end of school year concerts and presentation ceremonies happen. And by the time all the members of our family are covered I’ve got what feels like a million other appointments to go to as well.....  Kindergarten Orientation,  High School Orientation, Ante-natal clinics, Doctor, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Physiotherapy.....  It’s no wonder I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

I can see that MasterL is feeling overwhelmed too. I know this from observing his behaviour. I also know this because he has told me numerous times in the past week that he doesn’t want to go to school anymore. When I ask him why not he can’t tell me. When I ask him if something bad is happening at school he says not really. He just doesn’t want to be there anymore. He has stopped even trying to manage being in the playground at lunch time, preferring to take himself to the Support Unit to sit quietly with other kids who struggle in the same way he does. I’m not that worried about him choosing this coping strategy- it shows a good deal of maturity in many ways, in that he can see for himself that he needs a break and knows how to get it appropriately. I’m proud of him for that. I am disappointed, however, that he feels he needs to do that. 

To me it says that the cut in funding has led to a reduced level of support which only provides for L’s academic support and no longer for his social support needs. I have spoken to the school about this, and they have told me they can organise an assessment to see if they can attract any more funding to help him individually, but it really is a long shot. 

The new system doesn’t allow for kids who aren’t showing difficult behaviours to get individual funding (and he isn’t showing difficult behaviours at school....yet) and the money they have in the general pool is already being stretched too far. It’s frustrating to be able to see the trickle down effect of the funding cuts starting, but still not being able to do anything about it until it gets worse. He already is struggling with going to school, and I can see his behaviour at home showing this. He expresses reluctance to go, and is having trouble completing homework tasks, yet because he looks ”OK” at school there is unlikely to be any support available. 

It brings up the question again for me....  why is what my son needs less important than what other children need?

More funding cuts.... who is prepared to fight with me?

When I started blogging 6 months ago, I had no idea the direction the blog would go in. I thought I would be posting a series of honest but witty stories about living with Autism that would encourage and inspire, and maybe increase understanding of what Autism is within the wider community. I don't really know if I've achieved that at all.

What I do know is that I am now writing more and more often about funding and policy and battles for equal opportunities for my kids. The other stuff is still there, but more and more I find myself in the role of advocate and discontent.

I really was not expecting that.

It makes me think about how lucky people are who don't have to think about whether their child will be adequately supported at school. I was one of those until recently. Funding was available to support all my kids to learn well. L needed extra support and he got it. Thanks to "Every Student, Every School" that is now gone. I assumed G would get funding too, but as it turns out Government Policy changed, and now I have to fight for it.

You might think that you are one of those who doesn't have to worry. I'm sorry to say that I am going to have to challenge that assumption. Our NSW Government has announced even more cuts to Education, and it is not just kids with disabilities they are targeting now. $1.7 billion is being taken, and your children will all be affected. As I predicted here, an outcry is starting.

While I feel cranky that it took cuts that will affect the majority before people are interested in making a fuss, when my kids weren't worth fussing over, I am pleased that finally the campaign to let the government know we are not happy is building.

Please keep an eye out for the NSW Teachers Federation organised protests that are coming up, and join in your closest demonstration.

I for one will not be happy to sit back and watch, then tell my grandchildren that education used to be better, but we didn't bother to fight when they took away the funding. Are you?

Who is prepared to fight with me?

Every Student Every School- an update one term in

I've spent a fair bit of time writing about the Every Student Every School Policy on this blog. I've spent a fair bit of time writing about it to various Politicians too. I've attended a rally, been interviewed by media, collected signatures on petitions, and met with my local Member of Parliament. But the policy is still in place, and the world is still turning.

Event though it might seem to most that I'm going on about something that really isn't having much of an impact, it is early days yet. Aside from the fact that the NSW Government has since introduced even more funding cuts from more areas of education that will further compound the problems experienced by teachers, students and parents, the effects of Every Student Every School have begun to be felt in our household and many others, and will continue to impact us over time.


Here is a summary of the main effects I have noticed in the last 10 weeks.

Teachers Aides, or Learning Support Officers, in many schools have lost their jobs. This impacts (obviously) the Teachers Aides, the teachers who now have less "hands on deck", the Students who have less support available and their Parents who have their children arriving home form school more stressed.

In our house it took 2 weeks before L commented to me about the drop in support. His school promised to maintain as high a level of support as they could with the same teachers Aide,  but it took only 2 weeks for L to comment that he hadn't seen MsA very much lately. The comment may have sounded quite ambivalent to those who don't know him, but I know that he doesn't mention things unless they are weighing heavily on his mind. We have not yet noticed a drop in L's academic performance. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in his end of year results compared to the results he achieve in Semester One with higher levels of support. We have noticed his enthusiasm for school dropping, which is sad because he is a bright boy who loves to learn new things. We received his NAPLAN scores last week and were encouraged to find him well above the National average in a couple of areas, one of which he had really struggled with a few years ago. We believe this is a testament to the results possible for a child with a disability when they are adequately supported. We fear that over time, with the lessened support made necessary by the new funding policy, L's academic results will suffer as he struggles to navigate the social environment alone and that takes away the energy he needs to do well with his school work.

One of the changes has been the way you now apply for individual funding. Previously, a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder qualified you to apply and receive some individual funding. The amount of funding was determined by a formula applied to information provided by parents and teachers into a standard form processed by the Department of Education. The form hasn't changed very much, nor has the formula. It still takes ages to fill in, and is painfully bureaucratic. It still feels like it is designed to be so difficult that you just give up trying to satisfy all its check boxes and jargon filled explanations. The difference now is that the diagnosis no longer automatically makes you eligible to apply. Now you have to complete an expression of interest style form, which I lie to refer to as the "Application to be Eligible to Apply". This preliminary application is just as complicated and time consuming to manage as a parent or School Principal, but provides the Department of Education with a short one page set of number codes that they put into another little formula to decide if you should fill in the real application. I suppose this process saves someone in an office somewhere some time processing the longer set of paperwork, but what it does form my perspective is make our School Principal and me work twice as hard and use twice as much time. In a way I consider that we are lucky to have done both applications, because I've heard that many people filling in the preliminary application are told not to bother to apply.  We were given the go ahead to apply to be considered for individual funding for MissG, which we have now done. I think in total I personally have spent about 8 hours on this process, including the approximately 4 hours I sat with The Principal going through the application forms. I don't know for sure how much time The Principal has spent on it, but I know it was considerably more than the time he spent on it with me. So, at least half of one of his work days was spent on my daughters funding application. I know for certain she is not the only student enrolling next year that he will do this for, and I know for certain he has spent time on applications for students already attending the school. This is time spent on individual students that should be able to be spent on whole school issues. Yes, in some ways, sorting out funding for individuals *is* a whole school issue, but it shouldn't be!

These are the main things I've noticed, from with in my household. At this point, I'd be interested to hear from others that the Every Student Every School Policy is impacting, and to know how the Policy has affected you so far. All comments made on this blog have to be approved by me before they are posted publicly on the blog, so if you want to share confidentially just let me know in your comment that it is private and you do not want it published. If you would like me to reply privately, please leave me your email address. All observations and comments are valuable, so please leave me your thoughts however small they might seem to you. Thanks!

An Open Letter to Members of NSW Parliament

As many of you who read my blog know I have been working hard to help people understand the impact recent changes by the New South Wales Government to disability support funding -ironically named "Every Student Every School"- will have in schools and on children with extra support needs. To this end I have sent copies of the following letter to many NSW politicians, including the Premier and the Minister for Education and their counterparts in the Opposition. My letters have been all but ignored by all. My local Member responded in a one sentence letter by thanking me for making her aware of my concerns!!! 

I have decided to publish my letter now as an open letter to all NSW Politicians. I am doing this for 2 reasons- 

1. to continue in my efforts to raise awareness about this situation, and 

2. so people can see what sort of appeals our politicians are willing to dismiss when they make decisions for the governments financial benefit that impact our children. 

I have learned more now about this funding model, and if I were writing now there would be  a couple of things I would change, and a few things I would add, but here is the letter I sent 2 months ago....

Dear Members of NSW Parliament,

I am writing to you to convey my disappointment with the changes to Disability Support

Funding your Government has introduced, and to ask you and your Ministers to reconsider

the “Every Student, Every School” funding model. Both the reasoning behind the changes

and the implementation of them are flawed as tools to provide support for children with

disabilities who are mainstreamed in public schools.

Before I continue I would like to tell you a bit about my experiences in order to help you

understand why I am so passionate about this matter. As a young woman I gained a

Bachelor of Teaching. I worked as an Early Childhood Teacher. My last job in the Child

Care Industry was Director of a 54 place Long Day Care Centre. I left the industry to be a

full time mother. I now have 5 children aged between 16 and 5 years, 2 of whom have

Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I am currently half way through studying a Graduate Diploma

in Psychology by Distance Education. I have taken the year off from study this year, in

order to spend the time supporting and preparing our youngest daughter, who is Autistic

and has Sensory Processing Disorder, for her entry into Kindergarten at our local public

school next year.

My family’s experience with the public education system has been largely positive. Our 3

“Neurotypical” children have all had good experiences and achieved well both socially and

academically. We have had the privilege of knowing many dedicated, hard working

teachers who have helped our children develop a love of learning.

I would like to be able to say that the Public Education System I value so much has served

all my children well. However, our son, who has Aspergers Syndrome, has struggled over

the years with school, largely due to his social awkwardness and the lack of understanding

of this from teachers who do not know about Autism Spectrum Disorders. The fact that our

son has a diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum has so far entitled him to receive funding for

some extra assistance in the classroom. This has been in the form of a Teachers Aide.

The system we navigated as my son went through primary school was mostly

behaviourally based, and required parents and teachers to justify to the Department of

Education why the child needs extra help, and in what areas. This meant that when he

was well supported, he behaved well, which resulted in us not being able to tick the boxes

that allowed the funding to continue at a level that provided the amount of support he

needed to continue behaving well. And at times, when he was not receiving adequate

support, he still managed to behave in a way the school found acceptable by internalising

his anxiety and distress, but when he got home we could tell by his behaviour that he was

very unhappy.

I am a member of numerous support groups for parents of Autistic children. The comments

I hear from other parents daily validate my experience, and bring up many other issues

besides. They say that funding takes so long to appear. That teachers do not have the

education and training to help ASD kids. That they feel like their child is treated like a

number, rather than a person. That the funding in schools is not enough and that the

schools are forced to pool money from many children in order to get the staff they need,

but that the result is that none of the kids truly benefit from the funding that should be

theirs. That funding is made available but it has restrictions on what it can be used for and

these restrictions often mean the child misses out on things they need most. That they

actually don’t understand the system and wish it was more transparent. That they want the

schools to be able to explain to them what happens with the money and that they as

parents want to have a say in how it gets spent on their child. That they feel like the

teachers are so stretched they don’t have the time to really listen to the parents and learn

all they need to know about the children to support them. That they want a uniform system

across the States and Territories so that if they have to move they don’t have to learn a

new system and language to get the help they need.

The comments I hear from teachers weekly are that they need more support and training.

That they need more funds made available to purchase equipment like sensory specific

classroom aids and toys so that they or the parents don’t have to buy them. That they feel

alone in their struggle to find information they need to help ASD kids cope and learn in the

classroom.

The experience I have had with my son’s schooling, and the experience others have

shared with me, tells me that I need to go to the school my daughter will attend next year

and tell them all the worst things about her in order for the boxes to be ticked that will get

her a Teachers Aide for some of the day. It means that I have to ask the Director of the

Preschool she attends to complete a report about the level of support my daughter

receives while attending the Preschool. It means I have to find the money to pay for a

Psychologist to get to know my daughter, and that I need to pay the Psychologist to come

to the school and meet with the Principal and Teachers to help them get ready for my

daughter to attend. In fact, I have already started this process.

The fact that I have to put so much effort into the preparation for my daughter to go to

school could make people think she is quite severely Autistic. Actually, she is on the more

high functioning end of the spectrum. She is intelligent. Preliminary IQ testing indicates

she is smarter than I am. She has significant difficulty with communication, however, as

she does not understand non verbal communication or learn social conventions as easily

as a Neurotypical person does. She also struggles with being around people as a result of

her Sensory Processing Disorder. Her sensory system does not work like mine does. She

exists in a heightened state of arousal due to the fact that her body’s responses are

dominated by the part of her nervous system that initiates the “Fight or Flight” response. A

psychologist once explained to me that for my son and daughter an unexpected bump on

the shoulder can trigger in them the same reaction that would be triggered in me if I was

involved in a car accident. This can lead to behaviours that appear like tantrums over

seemingly small things. It can lead to what is known as Sensory Overload, which can

cause my daughter to either lash out physically or run and hide until she feels calmer. As

challenging as all this is, my daughter would not be appropriately placed in a “Special

Needs” Class (even if we could find one that had room to take her). The only option we

have for her education in a class room is for her to attend a mainstream class with her

peers. We have chosen a school we are happy with, where my son with Aspergers did

very well. Yet we are still concerned about the level of support she will require to do well

there, and the process we have to go through to get that support, both for her and for her

teachers.

It is concerning that while statistics are being released in the USA saying that 1 in 88

children have ASD, that there is no specific training and support being provided for

teachers in our schools helping them to learn about ASD and the impact it has on

education. I know numerous teachers learning by trial and error how to support children in

their classrooms. Teacher Aide time is metered out in hourly increments and schools have

to decide how to use it. They sometimes have to choose between keeping a child

physically safe in the playground or supporting them to learn in the classroom. My

understanding is that in NSW this is all about to change with the introduction of the “Every

Student, Every School” Initiative.

The NSW Government would have us believe that they are introducing a more equitable

system that will serve all children in the Public School System equally well. I am not

convinced! As a result of the changes scheduled to be implemented by the NSW

Government shortly, our school is losing $40,000 of "learning and support funding".

Because the NSW government decided to assume that 1 in 100 students in NSW schools

has a disability, and is funding for those numbers, and because they also take into account

NAPLAN scores, our school of 150 students (whose teachers have worked tirelessly to get

the schools NAPLAN score improving) is now being punished for doing well and for only

having a relatively small amount of students. Two of the things that make the school so

appealing to me as a place for my Autistic daughter are going to work against the great

staff who will be doing everything in their power to support her.

The front page of the NSW Government document outlining which school get what amount

of funding states that

"Each regular school receives a base allocation for learning and support. This reflects the

size of the school and the learning and support needs of students. Any changes in

allocations between the previous year and this year have been carefully considered and

reflect changes in:

• enrolments at the school

• learning needs of students as determined through literacy and numeracy data"

There are 2 big problems with the reasoning behind the Governments policy:

1. Basing funding for children who have a disability on their literacy and numeracy

outcomes shows a complete lack of understanding that some disabilities don't only require

learning support, but also (a) social support to help them integrate into a system that

requires their social conformity to be able to get the most from the setting, and (b) sensory

support to allow them the resources they need to cope when they experience sensory

overload.

2. In small schools, it is a statistical fallacy to assume that the number of actual disabled or

Autistic students will reflect the average incidence of disability or Autism in all schools. The

small size of some schools means that it is statistically expected that some of the small

schools will have many more actual students with disability than expected if you merely

use the global average to make a prediction. As a case in point, it is the small size of our

school that makes it attractive to parents of children with a disability. The NSW

Government says they are making things more equitable, but basing their funding on an

assumption that 1 child in 100 has a disability fails to take into account that it is possible

for a school with 150 students to have 3 or more disabled or Autistic children attending,

and seems somewhat shortsighted to me.

Even though the system we have been using has it’s flaws, the new system will be worse

for my children. There are 3 main problems with the implementation of the changes being

introduced:

1. No individual funding means that if I have to move my children to a different school,

there is no funding to go with them. Under the old system their support funding

automatically followed them to a new school. Now they will have to turn up at a new school

with no extra funds for the school to support them with. And because, as I understand it,

the new model only allows for schools to have their needs reevaluated once every 3 years,

the new school would most probably have all their funding allocated to children already

attending. This changes the arrival of a child with extra support needs at a school from

something relatively easy to manage to somewhat of a financial liability for the new school.

I don't like the idea that my child will be unwanted because s/he needs extra support that

the school can't give due to lack of finances.

2. From the discussions I’ve had with people affected by these changes it seems the

government has removed a few different categories of funding and replaced it with one

lump of money to be given to the school that the Principal has to use to cover everything

that all the smaller amounts used to. The lump amount is generally less in practical terms,

even though the Government has managed to make it look like more (in most cases) in the

document they published. Then I have to wonder- if most schools look better off on paper,

but are actually going to struggle to make ends meet to provide a similar level of support,

what is going to happen in our little school that is actually worse off on paper?

3. Due to the fact that there is no specific ASD training provided to teachers or teachers

aides (the few that will remain) it will be very difficult for schools to know what resources

are appropriate to provide for our children. This means that either a) ASD specific

resources will not be provided or b) if schools want to know what to provide, they'll have to

employ the services of other professionals (Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, etc) to

help them with this- and that will be paid for out of the money that the Government says

will cover the cost of supporting the kids.

I implore the NSW Government to listen to the parents of Autistic children and the teachers

of Autistic children as decisions are made and policy is developed around funding for

children with extra support needs. A recent study undertaken by Autism Spectrum

Australia, or ASPECT (ASPECTs summary of the study can be found at this web address 

http://

autismspectrum.org.au/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=632%3Apeople-with-autism-say-qwebelongq&

catid=94%3Amedia-releases) has shown that the main things adults with Autism

express as ongoing support needs are help with social interactions, help finding a job, help

accessing leisure and social activities, dealing with bullying and discrimination, and

accessing professional services. The study also found

“that educational experiences for people in this group are characterised by social isolation, failure to meet learning support needs, harassment and bullying which results in years of struggle with ongoing mental health issues”.

The study supports parents concerns by confirming that experiences in school do

influence outcomes for their children as adults, and states

“Being able to access disability funding is the key that will provide the opportunities this group of people require to reach their full potential and be healthy, socially connected citizens who are employed and actively contributing in their communities”.

Our children are capable of so much. They are no less than any other child. We need the

Government to support us in helping them to reach their potential by providing adequate

funding that meets our children’s real needs. Please resist the urge to consider the

statistical averages and make decisions based on numbers.

Our children are not numbers.

My daughter is Autistic. She may be 1 in 100, but she is so much more than that. In our

house she is one of 2 in 5. Her name is Grace. She is compassionate, intelligent and has a

keen interest in knowing how the body functions- especially how it heals itself. She is 5

years old now. One day she could be a surgeon. Please help her by providing the funds

for her school to give the support she needs to succeed both academically and socially.

My son is Autistic. He may be 1 in 100, but he is so much more than that. In our house he

is one of 2 in 5. His name is Liam. He is quick witted, honest, hardworking and has great

integrity. He is very interested in microbiology and DNA. He is 13 now. One day he wants

to be a scientist and discover something really important. Please help him by providing the

funds for his school to give the support he needs to succeed both academically and

socially.

My voice is only one of many thousands of frustrated parents. Raising an Autistic child is

not an easy task. Until you have done it there is no way you can understand the expense,

the tiredness, the stress, the worry and the grief. We are not exaggerating when we say

we need the Government to help us with this task. We are not being dramatic when we

say the current system is letting our children slip through the cracks, and the incoming

system will be worse.

Autistic children who are attending mainstream schools often are very intelligent.

Measuring their need for extra support by looking at their NAPLAN scores is like

measuring a fish’s intelligence by its ability to climb a tree. Most mainstreamed

Autistic children need support in the areas of social interactions and sensory

regulation. These two things are key to their success in coping with the school

environment, and if the Government is serious about providing equal opportunities

for all students they need to address the need for Autistic children to receive

support in these areas. This will need to involve funding for teacher aide support for

the children, and training for the teachers aides and classroom teachers in Autism

specific strategies. Some Autistic children do need help with academic activities,

sometimes due to Autism and sometimes due to other conditions they have along

with Autism. This also needs to be addressed more effectively, as strategies to help

these Autistic children will need to encompass their need for social and sensory

support as well. In reality, if the need for social and sensory support are not

recognised I don’t think it matters if parents have to attend meetings to justify the

amount of extra funding their child needs or not, as failing to recognise these needs

will ensure the funding provided will never be adequate to meet the real needs of

Autistic children.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on this matter. I have agonised over the

words, and now send them to you hoping that I have been able to convey to you just how

important this is to me and my family, along with many other parents and children. I would

be happy to speak further to any of the points I have made, or to answer any questions

about what I have written. I can be contacted by email at

michelle.suttons.email@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Michelle Sutton

Action!

It's been an encouraging week for me in the area of "Activism".  My local paper should be publishing a story based on a letter I wrote them about the NSW Governments "Every Student Every School" funding changes, and I've been in touch with some people who are just as fired up as I am, and there are some good things happening!

I'm now happily a member of a newly formed group called "Families Against Disability Discrimination (FAMADD)".

I'd like to share with you some information and an event organised by FAMADD, this coming Sunday.
I'll be doing my utmost to be there, despite the short notice!!  I hope to meet some of you there too.

The O’Farrell Government has cut funding to support students with disabilities in 272 schools across NSW. Here is the list of schools affected - http://supportourkids.wordpress.com/affected-schools/.

These cuts take effect from the start of Term 3 – that’s next Monday July 16!

Hundreds and hundreds of students in primary and high schools will be affected, leaving them without the classroom support from learning support officers (also known as 'teachers aides'). Our learning support officers are losing their jobs or losing hours of work.

Parents fear that the result is that students will learn less, will be subject to greater isolation and bullying and ultimately be at greater risk of alienation at school and as young adults in society.

So we need you, your families, friends and neighbours this Sunday!

Come to a Rally & Press conference!!

Sunday July 15

11am

the Graham Green

(The park next to Dulwich High School of Visual Arts and Design, enter via Fairfowl St, off Marrickville Rd) 

Dulwich Hill, Sydney

Why is this happening?

The NSW Government has changed how disability support is funded so that it is based on a formula that combines the school’s NAPLAN results, general prevalence of autism in the local community and school enrolment figures.

But a student’s individual needs will not be taken into account and this is unfair.

It could also be discriminatory - the Disability Standards in education in the Disability Discrimination Act, require “schools to treat students with disabilities on the same basis as students without disability”. How will students with disabilities be treated on the same basis if they don’t have the support to participate in the classroom?!

What we want

1.     Immediate reinstatement of the lost funding to the 272 schools (but not at the expense of the schools that have benefitted from recent additional funding).

2.     A revised funding formula that does not disadvantage any student with a disability and guarantees that now and in the future, every student will receive the amount of funding that is required to meet their needs.

3.     An increase in the number of permanent Learning Support Officers to retain experience.

4.     A register of Long Term Temporary Learning Support Officers to enable schools to source experienced Learning Support Officers.

This rally and press conference is being organised by the Public Service Association (PSA) representing learning support officers, along with Families Against Disability Discrimination (FAMADD), a group of concerned parents and supporters.