 |
Main Menu |
|
|
 Home Community Members options Search Web
|
|
|
|
|
Survey |
|
|
How many children are on the spectrum in your family?
|
|
|
|
|
News- Page 10
|
Education : It's top class
|
|
|
Posted by sylvia on Saturday, June 04, 2005 (11:42:36)
IC Newcastle 29/04/05
By Amanda Crook
Two years ago Tyneside's only autistic school was threatened with closure but today its future looks brighter than ever.
Staff at Newcastle's Thomas Bewick school for autistic youngsters were slated over standards, leadership and lesson content and put on an emergency improvement plan.
Now Government inspectors have congratulated them on radical improvements, the school has opened a new nursery and they will soon move into a brand new building.
Pupils from three to 19, governors and staff celebrated the Ofsted success with a party.
Headteacher Gustav MacLeod, who joined the school a year ago, said: "We're naturally delighted with our Ofsted report which reflects the fact there has been considerable improvement at the school since our last inspection.
"If a school is put in special measures and fails to show adequate improvement after two years it may be it has to be closed so everyone has worked really hard to save this very special school.
"We are now looking forward to moving to a new building which will enable us to develop as a centre of excellence."
The school, which currently has 53 pupils, will be able to cater for up to 90 children in its new £5m unit. It will move from its current site on Hillhead Parkway to a new education village in West Denton in the next two years.
Chair of governors Mary Jane Menzies said: "One of the biggest achievements for the school has been the development of an effective system to enable pupils to communicate better.
"This has had a very positive effect on all aspects of pupils' learning and behaviour and its success has been recognised by Ofsted."
The new Ofsted report said: "The positive ethos and determined leadership from the headteacher and senior team, effective teaching and good strategies to support communication have resulted in rising standards. The curriculum provides a wide range of good opportunities for pupils to learn; it is broad, balanced and relevant to their needs."
Inspectors say the school must now work to give pupils the chance to work with youngsters in mainstream schools.
Coun Nick Cott, executive member for Education, said: "The staff, pupils, parents and governors at Thomas Bewick School deserve full praise for their success in improving standards."
Nicola Moxon of the National Autistic Society said: "We are delighted."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? |   |
|
|
|
|
Education : Autism has some lessons of its own
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Thursday, May 19, 2005 (15:31:05)
East Valley Tribune 21/04/05
By Mary K. Reinhart
Denise Resnick was trying to keep a handle on her son, Matthew, as a man outside a Trader Joe’s in Scottsdale shot disapproving looks her way.
She was about to explain that Matthew had special needs and launch into her mini-lesson on autism when a young man stepped up.
"I know Matthew!" he said. "I volunteered in his class . . . and it was the best experience of my life."
So it goes when typical children are exposed to children with autism on a regular basis. They learn tolerance, understanding and compassion, which can come into play wherever they might encounter a child or adult with special needs.
"Because we do worry for their safety," Resnick says of her son and other autistic children. "For those who can’t speak for themselves or defend themselves, you want those little angels out there."
Resnick, who lives in Paradise Valley, is president and co-founder of the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center, which was scheduled to hold its annual breakfast fundraiser today at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. The center, which combines scientific research with programs for families and professionals, recently moved into its new 18,000-square-foot Campus for Exceptional Children in Phoenix.
Among its offerings, the center contracts with school districts across the Valley to provide training for teachers and is developing a model laboratory classroom where educators can get hands-on experience and ideas for designing their own classrooms. It also offers a program to help foster friendships between typical children and autistic classmates.
Public schools are expanding classes and hiring teachers to respond to explosive growth in the number of children with autism. Autism is now the country’s leading childhood developmental disorder, with more than 5,600 autistic children attending school in Maricopa County.
The Mesa Unified School District serves 185 students on 15 campuses, including three new programs that opened this year. Three more schools will offer autistic programs in the fall, said Kay Stockdale, autism specialist for the district. The district recruits teachers from across the country, says Stockdale, as well as using "homegrown" teachers who student-teach in the district under veteran teachers, then move into new classrooms as they are created.
Educators believe that earlier diagnosis is leading to the surge in identified autistic students, and early intervention can mean a better prognosis for children. Depending on their level of autism, children may be placed in a separate classroom or remain in typical classrooms and receive help from an aide. The more often children can remain in the mainstream, educators say, the better.
Resnick’s 13-year-old son this year was placed in a typical third-grade classroom.
"These little 8-year-olds surround him and try to teach him new things. They’re learning so much from each other," she says. "Those are not lessons that you’re going to get passing grades on, but those are lifetime lessons that money can’t buy."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
Education : $30m boost for special education
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Wednesday, May 18, 2005 (13:53:34)
stuff.co.nz 20/04/05
By Jared Savage
Parents, principals and teachers are welcoming more money for special education students but say the funding must target schools with the greatest need.
The Education Ministry is spending an extra $30 million over the next four years to boost problem areas highlighted by parents and schools in public meetings last year.
However, the lobby group Quality Public Education Coalition says the heart of the problem lies in how the special education grant is distributed to schools.
Coalition chairman John Minto is disappointed the money is still bulk funded to schools irrespective of the number of children with special education needs enrolled.
"This means that a school which has two children with moderate special needs gets the same funding as a school with 20 children with moderate needs," he says.
More than half of the extra $30m will pay for additional specialist teachers to assist another 500 high needs students.
This is for children who do not qualify for Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Scheme (ORRS) funding, which is restricted to the top 1 per cent of special needs students.
Mr Minto says the 1500 students receiving ORRS funding represents less than 25 per cent of the children who should qualify for this type of help.
Dorothy Stewart, a mother of three children with austism and Asperger's syndrome, says the ORRS funding criteria is far too tight.
All children are missing out on the education they deserve as a result, she says.
"It puts a lot of stress on teachers because they're not getting the assistance they need, and able-bodied children are missing out because the teachers are busy," Mrs Stewart says.
The $30m extra funding coincided with the Government's release of 16 regional reports analysing the feedback of students, parents and educators in public meetings last year.
Nearly 2000 submissions were received in Auckland alone.
Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope says the Government listened to the issues raised and more funding is only part of the answer.
"The vision of an education sector that values children and young people with a disability remains a priority and we will strive to provide a learning environment for students that gives them the best opportunity to participate along with their peers," he says.
As part of the package, a further $10m will pay for extra teacher aides in mainstream classrooms.
The Government is spending $388m on special education this year, nearly $100m more than in 1999, and equivalent to the cost of all new schools, buildings and classrooms in 2005.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
Education : 'Our son was forced to learn French, even though he can't speak English properly
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Thursday, May 12, 2005 (23:54:52)
Awares
The furious parents of an autistic teenager threatened legal action on March 28 over the teaching of their son.
They say 13-year-old Evan Davies was made to learn French - even though he could not speak English properly.
Evan's mother, Sue, and stepfather, Alan Logan, are now considering asking for a judicial review into the way Evan was taught. They are are also planning on moving to Somerset to be near a specialist school where he could get the intensive speech therapy they say he needs.
But the Rhuddlan couple claimed on March 28 that Denbighshire Council was not providing an assessment of needs - essential before he switches schools - for the education authority in south-west England.
Evan spent three years at Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, in Ruthin, which specialises in teaching autistic youngsters, from the age of six. But Sue and Alan felt he was not making enough progress and transferred him to a private school in Stafford. He did well academicaly but was expelled. The Logans are involved in a legal action against the school.
Evan returned to Bronyffryn in 2002 when a psychologist said he needed 24-hour therapy. He boarded during the week but returned to the family home in Maes Ffyddion at the weekends.
Initially, he got one-to-one tuition, but in the second year returned to the classroom.
"We have always been told Evan needs intensive speech and language therapy, but it was only at a parents' evening last July that we found he was no longer getting the one-to-one tuition," said Mr Logan, a former soldier who ran a business selling militaria.
"They were teaching him French and Welsh, but he wanted to male sure that he could read and write English," said Mr Logan. "It's absolutely stupid and he's not getting the 24-hour curriculum which his statement says he needs. We want to ensure Evan can cope as well as possible when we are no longer around."
Mr and Mrs Logan paid for independent reports on Evan, but but were told by Denbighshire officials that they were "irrelevant."
Evan is no longer taught French or Welsh, but receives only half an hour each day of individual attention.
The couple's solicitor, Mike Charles, who specialises in special-needs education, wrote to the education authority several tines to raise certain issues, but had no response. They are now considering a judicial review to resolve the dispute.
Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Logan hope that Evan will be accepted at a special school in Somerset, to where they would move.
In a letter to the couple, the head of education services, Ieuan Lloyd Roberts, said they were free to make their own arrangements with the English school.
"Denbighshire would co-operate with that autherity to ensure a smooth transfer for Evan when the move takes place," he said, adding: "Denbighshire will not make other arranegements with Somerset."
A Denbighshire spokesperson said: "We are not able to discuss individual circumstances."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
Education : 'Parents should tell schools how to teach children with Asperger's'
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Thursday, May 12, 2005 (23:52:41)
Awares
Parents should tell schools how to teach children with Asperger's syndrome, according to Jacqui Jackson, a campaigning mother of seven whose four sons have all been diagnosed with different forms of autism.
Speaking at an Autism Cymru conference in Wrexham, Mrs Jackson said that parents knew best.
Describing her son Lukes school, she said: "I gave them solutions, rather than going in and saying: "What are you going to do about it?'"
Autism Cymru estimates that there are around 18,000 children and adults in Wales on the autistic spectrum, which affcts the way a person communicates and relates to others. People with Asperger's syndrome are often highly intelligent and Luke, 16, who was on stage with his mother, has written two books on the subject.
Mrs Jackson called for better awareness, saying that those who wanted to help often lacked understanding, while others made no effort.
"One teacher said: 'I know Luke is autistic, but when he comes to my class, he can leave his autism at the door'."
A conference delegate, Denise Hawkins, who manages an 11-pupil Asperger's unit at Argoed high school in Mold, Flintshire, said: "You have to work together. Parents often say: 'This is happening at home, what can we do?'"
Autism Cymru has been working with the Assembly government on an all-Wales strategy. A consultation document is expected in June.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comments? | |
|
|
|
|
|
Latest: 
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 7437
Members: 0
Visitors: 21
Total: 21
1: