From: Sent: Monday, 10 July 2023 9:16 PM
To: Committee, Education & Health Standing
Subject: Inquiry into support for autistic children and young people in sch
To Whom It May Concern
As an educator with thirty years experience, a parent with two neurodiverse children and now studying my Masters in Autism I am so glad that this committee has been established as the needs of our children in schools is GREAT. Given my education background and my current area of study I find myself increasingly being asked to advocate for parents in relation to the their child’s provision at school. This is across the state and independent sectors. The main areas of concern are: An incredible lack of understanding of their (teacher’s) responsibilities and duties under the Disability Act for children and young people with a disability. Secondary schools are particularly weak at making appropriate accomodations for autistic students that are in mainstream classes. This is a complex area as teachers are often specialists in their subject and have had no training in autism or the other common specific learning disorders. Teachers do not understand that accomodations and adjustments can be made that not only benefit autistic and neurodiverse students, but are actually high impact teaching strategies that have positive outcomes for all students. Working with parents is critical. Professional arrogance is rife and many parents are intimidated by the school system. Schools and educators need to pay heed to their mission statements the more often than not recognise the important role parents play, however their treatment of parents does not often reflect this. Adjustments need to be made according to the individual’s need and NOT their diagnosis. At different ages and stages the needs of autistic children differ and the diagnosis does not give us all of this information. Individual education plans are CENTRAL and time must be given to teacher to create ones that make a positive difference to the child. On a personal level, I drove my daughter’s school mad with adjustments to the IEP and called them on it when it wasn’t implemented properly, BUT this paid off, and she received outcomes that reflected her ability and not her disability. Teachers are experts in curriculum and education, and not complex special needs. They need to be reminded of this. As an educator of 30 years (K-12, teaching, leadership, advisory both in Australia and internationally) a parent of a neurodiverse individual, and neurodiverse myself, I thought I had a good understanding of autism. Yes I did, but my current study has shown me that there is so much to learn and educators must look to expert therapists and parents for advice and not the other way around. The relationship between educators, parents and therapists needs to be a real focus of any work done, because to achieve success they need to work together to share expertise. Evidence based practices are essential to support autistic children in schools but there needs to be a lot of training around this for teachers. Evidence practices should be a non negotiable and not left to the teacher’s ‘professional discretion’. Their training does not qualify them to make decisions about what is appropriate for a child based on their needs. There are many children in the system with undiagnosed needs and the difficulty in getting a diagnosis is real. Children should receive the appropriate accomodations based on presentation, where it is difficult to obtain a diagnosis. Diagnosis is an equity issue given the extensive costs in receiving one. This needs to be addressed. The NDIS funding is not to be used to support education, however there are many parents reporting to me that they are using NDIS funding to top up education assistant time at school because the schools are not getting enough funding. A LOT of work needs to be done around the provision of education assistants. There is an incorrect assumption that once you get a diagnosis, that you child will get an EA and that is the answer to everything. Work needs to be done to effectively train EAs NOT to make children dependent on them and also to help parents understand that an EA is not always the most appropriate support.
I would very much like to be further involved in this committee if there are opportunities made open to the public. I believe the current work I do, my study and my understanding of the education settings would enable me to make some very worthwhile contributions.
Yours sincerely
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