Struggling through the system

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Struggling through the system

3News NZ

These days the vast majority of children with special needs are put through the mainstream school system. Any extra support they require is funded through the Ministry of Education.

But just how severe does a kid’s need need to be to qualify? Would a 13-year-old with the skill level of a five-year-old be expected to go to secondary school unaided?

The answer, surprisingly, appears to be yes.

Watch the video to see Natasha Utting’s full report.

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Comments

23/08/2012 5:56:29 p.m.

Rosemary wrote:

I agree with"Moral Outrage" below
Having been struggling with the system for 7 years my daughter and son-in-law are at their wits end. My grandson has a head injury and dyslexia and apparently does not fit the criteria for oors funding either. He is at the moment at a school that understands his needs and is doing well for the first time in 7 years, but this ends at the end of the year and it all starts again when he goes to college. The government does not care about our children. They are closing the special needs residential schools which have been doing an excellent job and so we can't apply there for help. Where do you go to get help for this lovely boy who is being pushed away, possibly into crime as truancy is a very possible thing for him. We need help!!

25/07/2012 1:28:36 p.m.

Gail wrote:

I have a daughter with special needs, very similiar to Charlotte's. Because she didn't fit into any given criteria it was very difficult to get ORRS funding for her. We applied 4 times over a 2.5 year period, all with no luck. We then went to arbitration and appealed the decision. This is a huge process and took many many hours of preparation on our part. But the outcome was excellent, she was granted ORRS funding. I would suggest you look into appealing the decisions made and go to arbitration. Don't give up, best of luck.

24/07/2012 2:46:34 p.m.

Joy Z Clark wrote:

Charlotte is an awesome rider, it was beautiful to watch her connection with the lovely horse. Well done Charlotte :)

24/07/2012 12:36:13 p.m.

S wrote:

These children need a class set up for them specifically - main stream classes don't work for them.They also need more hands on learning similar to that of Montessori.

24/07/2012 12:30:23 p.m.

Arthur Barnett wrote:

MAGIC YES Magic by team name.. The win was not achieved by magic, but by the absolute superior effort of the TEAM and all concerned WELL DONE We love you all.

24/07/2012 10:09:51 a.m.

Bulgar wrote:

Getting our autistic child through school was a battle from beginning to end with the authorities determined to deprive you of your entitlements all the way. Even maintaining their basic safety was not acheiveable nor was a decent education and I see that nothing has changed.

24/07/2012 10:01:14 a.m.

moral outrage wrote:

Most children requiring special education help are not intellectually challenged or of low intelligence. They have other disorders including undiagnosed sight/ hearing deficit, epilepsy and mild autism. The majority of these children are refused or prevented from support and assistance from MOE and DHBs. This has led to the huge band of chronic truant school refusers and reluctance. Most of these children denied assistance are in low income families and areas. This group are the the largest group of children removed by CYF and the family court under "parental neglect" despite great parental efforts to access supports. Of note the MOE does not take many parents to court for their child being truant. This would show up the glaring failings and discrimination of the vital service accessibility and implementation from MOE and the DHBs. Most of the children receiving state services and supports have affluent parents who can afford private supports while those the system was set up for have no access to it.

24/07/2012 9:26:50 a.m.

linda brand wrote:

i can understand what the mother is going though i have two girls who will be going to high school next year they are learning at about an 6 to 8 year old i am so afaird that they will not cope with high either

24/07/2012 4:40:24 a.m.

Pat McCaul wrote:

I know this is not to do with this story, I was forced to leave NZ with my three youngest kids, the youngest having special needs and medical needs, I couldn't afford the medical treatment my daughter needed, I was forced to leave and go back to Northern Ireland , I had lived in NZ since I was 11yrs old my parents and siblings moved to NZ in 1964 I have left three grown up children in NZ and miss them so much. I wrote to the PM regarding this but never got a reply, I would rather be in NZ with my brothers and sisters also my older children and my grandchildren. All my kids were born in NZ Is there anyone there that can help.

24/07/2012 12:43:50 a.m.

Mary wrote:

For many years now I have been involved in supporting children with disabilities in the Education system including a disabled child of my own. The situation faced by this young student is very common and is heart-breaking. Lack of funding and unfair decisions made by GSE and the M.O.E have left many students in danger and not able to meet their potential. I attended meetings back when mainstreaming was becoming the way forward with all the promises that were made to parents about enough funding and resources being available to keep our kids safe. All of those promises have been broken and were worth nothing. Schools and teachers face pressures to deal with children they have no training to cope with. I strongly suspect that if this young lady was less compliant or a difficult student, she would have a raft of resource placed around her - but because she is a nice young lady she is left to struggle. It seems that alot of special education funding is used up on children with behavioural issues not directly related to any disability. It is past time that special needs funding is returned to what it was originally intended for - the support of children with diognosed conditions.