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News- Page 3
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Education : Integrating Disabled Children in Regular Schools
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Posted by sylvia on Saturday, March 25, 2006 (07:16:25)
Arab News
By Maha Akeel
Efforts by the Ministry of Education at integrating disabled children into regular mainstream schools continue to face problems in convincing the parents of these children and society in general of the importance and validity of this approach.
Several years ago, the Ministry of Education adopted a project to integrate children with special needs into regular schools as a step toward helping them assimilate and lead a productive life.
The project began with boys’ schools and a few years later it was implemented in girls’ schools. It included programs for the visually impaired, low-grade mental disability and the visually impaired at the elementary and intermediate level.
The integration is partial whereby the disabled students have their own class but mingle freely with the other students outside class and participate in their activities.
During a recent meeting of the special needs unit at the Girls’ Education Administration, the issue of some of the problems still facing the project and ways of addressing them was discussed.
Thuraya Qadhi, head of the unit, said that the main problem facing integration was the lack of awareness and acceptance by society of disabled persons. The unit has received several inquiries from parents and school administrators about the goals of the project and its effectiveness.
Omalsaad Balkhoyor, administrative supervisor at the special needs unit, pointed out the important role of the school principal where the disabled students are being integrated and that of the director of the institutions for disabled children who provide the basic instructions to these students.
“There are also incentives for the faculty at the schools where integration is implemented. There is a 30 percent addition to the salary of a specialized teacher in teaching disabled children and a 20 percent addition for the school principal, administration and unspecialized teachers that teach in the integrated classes,†said Balkhoyor.
Eman Al-Abbasi, also administrative supervisor at the special needs unit, talked about the tasks of the mobile support teams that visit the schools of integrated classes. The teams consist of specialists in psychology, speech and hearing and they provide the psychological, social and educational support needed to the teachers and students and take note of whatever problems and issues they might have in order to address them.
“Our goal is to raise awareness and acceptance among the parents, the teachers and society as a whole of recognizing and providing the support these disabled children need,†said Al-Abbasi.
Besides offering awareness programs, they also evaluate the school environment as a suitable place for the disabled children and make sure they are equipped with the necessary facilities. Among the observations they made during the mobile team visits to the schools is the feeling of alienation and isolation some of the disabled children have at these regular schools they are enrolled in because most of their time is spent among themselves in their class. The team suggested increasing the out-of-class activities where all the students can participate and allow the normal students to help their fellow disabled students.
At the end of the meeting, Qadhi proposed some recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the program. These recommendations include choosing the schools for integration carefully and making the appropriate accommodations and preparations early, providing the necessary support to the school principal so that the program does not become a heavy burden and hiring enough teachers specialized in teaching disabled children.
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Education : ADHD crisis hits schools
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Posted by sylvia on Thursday, March 23, 2006 (16:08:28)
Evening News 24
Head teachers today hit out over what they claim is Norfolk's inability to cope with children suffering from a behavioural disorder which makes them unruly and disruptive.
Although most schools have pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) heads claim they are ill equipped in dealing with the youngsters and the effects of their behaviour on other children.
As a result schools are facing tough decisions on how to allocate their stretched resources and ultimately whether or not to exclude the difficult children.
Today, Norwich North MP Ian Gibson backed their calls for better provision claiming the issue was equal in importance to campaigns to dual the A47.
The comments after the Evening News revealed how one 14-year-old boy with ADHD had not been in full-time education since being excluded from a city school in 2003.
Another had been sent to a specialist boarding school 120 miles away because the county could not cater for him.
Bill Gould, head teacher of Hellesdon High School, where there are about 12 pupils with diagnosed ADHD, said schools had insufficient resources to cope adequately with problems associated with the complex disorder.
This presented the problem of where to strike the balance between providing for the ADHD child and ensuring others were getting a decent education.
"The government has launched a campaign called Every Child Matters," he said. "If every child matters then you cannot put 95 per cent of resources into one child and five per cent into the other 20 in the classroom.
"You would hope sufficient provision was made for these youngsters but regrettably there is not.
"ADHD is soul-destroying to the school, the parents and the individual."
At George White Middle School, Norwich, more than a quarter of the pupils have statements of special needs, of which the majority have learning difficulties, including ADHD.
Paul Stanley, head teacher, said despite having two part time special needs teachers and a fulltime special needs co-ordinator, the school was still left wanting.
"We need more funding, it is as simple as that," he said.
He added there was a conflict between the idea of including all children in mainstream schools, which most schools were in favour of, and sending individuals to specialist schools rich in resources.
"Clearly it is a lot cheaper sending a child with ADHD to a mainstream school than to a specialist school," he said. "It is a complex issue, but more provision and more support for schools is certainly needed."
Norfolk County Council, which is responsible for education, says it is looking into improving provision.
Currently there are 514 children with statements of special needs for behavioural, emotional and social difficulties in the county.
No records are available of the precise breakdown of these figures by disorder, though the vast majority of those with ADHD attend mainstream schools.
Rosalie Monbiot, cabinet member for children's services, said: "It's a very difficult problem.
"We are doing a special needs review which will be concluded in February. A good part of that is giving extra support to teachers on how to deal with the difficulty of special needs of any type.
"There will be more money and resources put into that once the review has finished. I gather that new teachers get less than a day's training on how to deal with special needs.
"I don't know why there appear to be more children suffering from ADHD now. It may be more recognition of it now."
Schools attended by children with a statement for behavioural, emotional and social difficulty may receive between £5,000 and £10,000 on top of the usual £3,000 per pupil, depending on the severity and type of need.
However, about a dozen children currently receive education outside the county, with some at a cost of around £45,000 a year.
Tony Mulgrew, Norfolk's secretary for the National Union of Teachers, said dealing with children with behavioural problems had a negative impact on many teachers.
"Some teachers really enjoy teaching children with specific needs," he said. "But for the average teacher it is stressful because they have not had the training and the expertise in dealing with it."
However Dr Gibson said responsibility must lie with the council.
"The recognition of new illnesses affecting young people has been slow to be picked up by Norfolk County Council," he said. "Whether its autism, Asperger's or hyperactivity, one gets the impressions they still feel, 'oh dear, not another problem'.
"They have to address this problem with increased resources and support. This issue is equal to the campaigns to dual Norfolk's roads."
Lisa Trapnell, whose son Joshua has ADHD, said she thought it was disgraceful how little resource and training was given to schools in coping with ADHD.
"These children are getting such a rotten deal," said the 37-year-old from Sprowston. "Heads are calling for more money and, too right, they should be. There definitely needs to be much more funding otherwise these kids will stand no chance."
Ros Vahey, head of the Pupil Access and Support Service at County Hall, said specialist support services had been set up to help schools and ran training courses for teachers regularly.
Every school also had its own special educational needs coordinator responsible for ensuring that teachers in schools had the support, skills and expertise necessary to help children with special educational needs.
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Education : Special needs parents face care 'lottery'
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Posted by sylvia on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 (16:52:44)
The Telegraph September 2005
By Sarah Womack
Parents of children with special needs face a "postcode lottery" in their search for good nurseries and childminders, Ofsted warns in a report published today.
The education watchdog said the availability of good quality care for children with learning difficulties or disabilities varied widely. Even nurseries or childminders rated as "good" or "outstanding" struggled to provide adequate care for children with special needs.
Ofsted's report said childminders and nursery groups needed specific training and support from health workers and councils to look after children with "complex health needs" and "challenging behaviour" such as autism.
But the report said this help and training was "too inconsistent". As a result, "services for children with special needs depend on where they live, not on what they need".
Ofsted visited private and voluntary nursery groups and childminders.
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Education : New policy on autistic kids criticized
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Posted by sylvia on Monday, November 14, 2005 (20:14:35)
Honolulu Advertiser September 2005
By Beverly Creamer
Some families with children with autism fear that changes proposed by the Department of Education will reduce services to their children and will put youngsters through unnecessary and difficult transitions.
"Any kind of change or disruption in the program is a setback for your child and they will regress," said parent Kalma Wong, whose two youngest children are autistic.
In a bid to update services and increase the skills of trainers, as parents and the federal government expect, the DOE will be replacing some private trainers who teach children social and other skills with DOE employees. Far from reducing costs, the DOE says the changes will cost more — although final tallies are not available yet. Administrators say service will remain the same or could improve because of higher training requirements for some of the professionals that will serve the children.
Parents remain concerned.
Michael Moriyama, whose 9-year-old son has been diagnosed with both autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder, said changing the two-person team overseeing his son's education for the past three years could be a serious setback.
"What the DOE is not considering is that if they stick two new people on the team, it takes months to get everybody up to speed," Moriyama said. "It takes months of adjustment."
Estimates are that autism affects one in 500 children and encompasses a range of brain disorders that impair three main areas of development: speech, communication and social interaction. The condition can range from mild to severe. While no one is sure what causes Autism Spectrum Disorders, as this group of disorders is called, and there is no known cure, behaviors can be improved with intensive individualized education.
The DOE says the changes are part of an overall goal to build department expertise in providing for the needs of autistic children. That has meant a contracting change, with three agencies losing contracts and one company picking up a contract. DOE said the contracts' costs were not immediately available last week.
DOE administrators said that while the providers will change for 307 of the 1,165 children with autism served by the DOE, services will remain the same.
"Services will not be changed or diminished," said Debra Farmer, administrator of the DOE's special-education section. "The provider will be different, the agency will be different but our schools are working very hard to make sure this transfer is as painless as possible."
The service changes are targeted for Oct. 1.
But in one case, concerns expressed at a recent Board of Education meeting have caused superintendent Pat Hamamoto and board chairman Breene Harimoto to ask that the contract with a rural agency, North Shore Mental Health, be extended to enable a smooth transition for the 135 children it serves.
"I've been told by the Board of Education chairman and Pat Hamamoto they both want to look into this and make it better," said Dan Kehoe, who heads that agency and appealed for an extension. Kehoe told the board his concern is the number of transitions the children are facing.
Parent Jana Hanawahine, whose 8-year-old son, Jayce, is in second grade at Koko Head Elementary, said her child is no longer being trained in necessary skills to succeed in school and life, but is simply being baby-sat.
"His bad habits are coming back," said Hanawahine. "They're not correcting the social things that need to be corrected."
In comparison to the private "skills trainer" who has a bachelor's degree in psychology and has been with her son for the past two years, she said the boy now has a revolving series of three educational assistants who have lesser qualifications and were hired by the school.
"With autism, continuity is key," said Wong, who has seen her own 5-year-old son progress "by leaps and bounds" in the past year because of a California program they've imported. But now, because the new contract requires five years experience for supervisors, she will lose the woman who has been working with her son. That person has 4 1/2 years of experience.
"You can't just throw someone else in her place," said Wong. "That's the scary part. You don't know who they'll put in. It takes a long time to build a good program and a good team. When you throw new people in, you're starting from square one again."
While DOE administrators are concerned about the changes families will face, they say change is inevitable, and the children must learn to handle it.
"A letter was given to every parent," said Farmer. "Each school team will meet with the parent to talk about transfer in services."
Naomi Grossman, president of the advocacy group Autism Society of Hawai'i, sees the new proposals as part of a gradual erosion of services guaranteed to families under the Felix consent decree. In a recent letter to the Board of Education, Grossman said "parents are experiencing unilateral decisions by DOE staff to remove services without parental input or agreement."
"Ever since 2002 it's been one dismantling after another," said Grossman. "And parents don't know how to fight it. We're getting calls right and left from parents crying, saying 'What should I do?' "
Parent Clarrie Selbe agrees with that assessment.
"Autism is the most challenging of all disabilities," said Selbe, "and they are trying to replace skilled professionals with people who do not have a bachelor of education degree, who are less trained with children with autism.
"It's becoming an adversarial situation for parents with special-needs children and it should be just the opposite," said Selbe. "It gives us so much anxiety. No parent should have to go through the frustration we are going through."
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Education : Autism college saves journeys
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Posted by sylvia on Monday, November 14, 2005 (19:44:54)
IC Wales September 2005
By Molly Watson
Nearly 26,000 people in Wales have been diagnosed as autistic. But despite this, until last year young people with the condition who wanted to enter further education had to travel to England to do so.
That was until January, when Beechwood College in the Vale of Glamorgan opened its doors, providing an environment where young Welsh people with autistic spectrum disorder - or ASD - could study in a place specially adapted to their needs for the first time.
The college provides further education for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 with an ASD. Open 52 weeks a year, it caters for residential and day students and as such is the first of its kind in Wales.
Principal Mark Hughes said the college's location in beautiful surroundings near to the sea, aims to provide a calm and supportive environment in which young people can learn to tackle the problems associated with their condition, while also learning to live as part of a community.
Beechwood's students' conditions and treatment plans vary widely and therefore each individual has a programme which is formulated especially for them and their needs.
Mr Hughes said, "Students are coming to us with very mixed experiences. Some are coming directly from other specialist schools, some from home and others may have been excluded from schools or colleges.
"No two students are alike and so we look at each individual and devise a programme for them, which makes us very unusual, if not unique."
ASD affects more than 500,000 people in the UK. People affected by the condition - which includes autism and Asperger's syndrome - usually experience difficulties with social interaction, problems with verbal and non- verbal communication and display a lack of imagination.
The college will have more than 20 students enrolled this year and can take as many as 38.
As well as studying core skills, art, drama, music and sport are also on offer. And students are regularly taken on trips into the local community to help develop their everyday social skills.
And it is the teaching of these life skills which Mr Hughes said is one of the college's most important functions.
He said, "It's our job to help these young people to move in the right direction and tackle problems they're likely to encounter in their future lives.
"We do this by encouraging them to develop life skills and helping them to live independently.
"One of our students, Richard Curtis, has Asperger's syndrome. He came to us with definite aspirations for his future life, he knows he wants to work. So it's our job to help him achieve that goal.
"It would be difficult to do this in a normal school based setting, because of the unique needs of ASD."
Caring for someone with ASD can be a full time job. At the college the students are cared for by a team of highly trained staff, but previously many lived at home where they were cared for by members of their family.
Ellis Lewis, 18, of Blackwood, Caerphilly was one of the first students to be enrolled at the college. Previously he lived at home and was cared for by his family.
His father, Martin Lewis, 53, said the move has massively improved not just his son's quality of life, but that of his whole family.
Mr Lewis, who lives with his partner Dianne, 46 and his two other sons, Gareth, 17, and Aled, 19, has been able to return to work for the first time in 15 years because he is no longer needed at home to care for Ellis. And he said his son now receives a better quality of care than his family could offer.
He said, "He's well cared for by highly trained staff who can do things which we can't do at home.
"The staff are not emotionally tied in the same way we are. They are caring and love him to bits but they can deny him things in a way we as his parents can't.
"I know Ellis will be educated and introduced to the community in a proper manner to suit his autism condition. It's about enablement, not disablement. He's happy and seems fulfilled. And it means the rest of the family are freed from their role as watchdogs."
In June the college won accreditation from Elwa, which means social services and education departments have been given approval by local authorities to refer young people to the college.
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