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News- Page 41
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Education : AUTHOR NICK HORNBY: 'BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS FAILING AUTISTIC CHILDREN'
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:56:52)
The Times, 03/10/2003
The award-winning British author, Nick Hornby, has attacked the government for failing autistic children.
Hornby, whose son Danny, aged 10, has autism, told a fringe meeting in Bournemouth on October 2 that the Labour government was not spending enough on health and education services for autistic children. He said that the local educational authority (LEA) staff employed to help children such as his son became "enemies" who were "institutionally hostile" to their needs.
His comments came as three separate reports were released warning of the "massive stress and cost" faced by parents who take LEAs to tribunals.
Hornby said: "One of the first of many shocks you receive as the parent of a disabled child is that there is no one to help you negotiate the dense and dark forest of difficulties which has sprung up around you.
Unless there is enough money in the system to meet the needs that are out there, all the wonderful new initiatives the government is announcing aren’t going to engage the single most pressing reason why the system is failing disabled children.
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Education : MORE FUNDING URGED FOR ABA APPROACH IN NORTHERN IRELAND
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:42:31)
Press Association, 30/09/2003
Representatives from the charity PEAT - Parents' Education as Autism Therapists - brought their appeal to Stormont [Northern Ireland's Parliament] on September 30 for more funding for the applied behaviour analysis approach to teaching autistic children.
But they also warned politicians that they would take their battle to the courts if necessary.
At the invitation of the SDLP Party leader, Mark Durkan, PEAT representatives told officials from the Departments of Education and Health that only eight children in Northern Ireland had funding for this method of teaching in their homes.
They contrasted this to the eight ABA schools which operate in the Irish Republic with government funds as well as government-sponsored home-teaching programmes.
Dr Mickey Keenan, from the University of Ulster's School of Psychology at Coleraine and who helped to form PEAT, said: "The basic question is - why is it so difficult to persuade professionals that they should be following a science-based intervention?
There are numerous pieces of research which show that ABA intervention is effective, yet there is a reluctance on the part of the education system in Northern Ireland to accept the scientific evidence.
"It has taken six years to get this far and we are now taking the message right to the doorstep of government in Northern Ireland. I am a parent appalled at the treatment of other parents and I have put my heart and soul into helping them."
There is only one full-time professional and one part-time professional trained in ABA education methods in Northern Ireland.
PEAT's chairman, Dr Tony Byrne, who has two autistic children, criticised a recent taskforce set up in the province to examine educational provision for autistic children because it had no ABA-trained professional among its membership.
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Education : AUTISTIC BOY 'TOO OLD' TO RECEIVE HELP
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:12:36)
Canada - Town Crier, 26/09/2003
An East York family is struggling to find a way to get help for their autistic child after they were told he was too old to receive help from a local autism support group.
Alfonso Samenez, says his six-year-old son, Xavier, used to go to the Danforth Childcare Centre where he received help from the Toronto Pre-school Autism Service (TPAS), a group that delivers services to autistic children within educational facilities and day-care centres. Most facilities are not equipped to deal with the special needs of these children and as such, need outside support.
Unfortunately, TPAS is funded in such a way that children are only served up to the age of six, believing they should be able to adjust and go right into the school system. Samenez says that, now his son has reached that age, he is not sure what to do for Xavier, who has not received the full term of service and is not ready for regular schooling. He now temporarily stays at home.
"TPAS is funded by Community and Social Services," Samenez says. "They say they don’t have the money, and their policy is that they don’t deliver services to children that are six years and older."
He says TPAS is a good programme, but the services were stopped at the daycare, and they had to go to the Holy Name school. Personal problems made them stop the service altogether for a time, but when they tried to resume it, they were told the only way it could be restarted is if the government would send the funds.
TPAS’s own rules state that the only exception for receiving service after the age of six is if a child has been referred, but has not yet received one year of service as of his or her sixth birthday.
One institution that uses TPAS defends the service, saying it is hampered by the level of government funding afforded it. Susan Mullen, executive director for Surrey Place, a centre that serves people of all ages with developmental problems, says TPAS has done some great things, despsite funding restrictions.
"It’s a very intensive programme, generally 20 to 30 hours a week per child, so there’s an issue around the level of staff required for each child," she says. "The issue really is that there’s only funding up until the age of six."
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Education : ONTARIO FIRST CANADIAN PROVINCE TO MEET NEEDS OF OLDER AUTISTIC CHILDREN
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 24, 2003 (21:34:59)
Canada NewsWire, 11/08/2003
TORONTO, Canada: The provincial government of Ernie Eves is delivering on its promise to help older children with autism, making Ontario the first Canadian province to develop a programme aimed at meeting the unique needs of these children.
"We are following through on our promise to parents of children with autism to provide a new programme and services so that elementary school-age children with autism can continue to grow and learn," said Brenda Elliott, Ontario's Minister of Community, Family and Children's Services.
Elliott announced on August 11 that the new programme, called BRIDGES, would be introduced this autumn with a demonstration site in London, Ontario. The Ministry is inviting prospective service providers in the Southwest region to submit a proposal to provide the new programme. The demonstration site is expected to be operational by early October 2003 so that delivery and implementation can be evaluated and refined before expanding to other parts of the province.
The new programme, designed with the input of a panel of experts, will help older children build the social, communication and behavioural skills that they need at home, school and in their communities.
BRIDGES will provide children with a two-hour per week, group-based programme that is intended to support and complement other community services or activities with which the child and family are involved. BRIDGES will be offered in two 16-week sessions per year, in the autumn and the spring, to mirror the school year.
By 2006-2007, Ontario will spend almost Canadian$100 million on new programmes and services for children with autism, making it a leader in developing innovative initiatives designed to improve the lives of these children and help parents raise their children with hope and dignity.
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Education : MOTHER VOWS TO FIGHT FOR RIGHT TO CHOOSE AUTISTIC SON'S SCHOOL
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 24, 2003 (21:32:41)
The Scotsman, 12/07/2003
NEWHAVEN, Scotland: A widowed mother has vowed to fight through the courts for the right to send her autistic son to the school of her choice.
Veronica Rose, of Newhaven, Edinburgh, is the latest in a line of parents taking legal action against Edinburgh City Council over the right to send their children to the school of their choosing. Her move comes after the local authority refused her five-year-old son, Felix, a place at Donaldson’s College.
Mrs Rose said she believed Felix would not reach his full potential if he were sent to Kaimes special school, which is the only place the council has offered.
The mother-of-two, who lost an appeal to send him to Donaldson’s, said: "Felix has a autistic spectrum disorder and has a major speech impediment. He can repeat words, but he can’t do sentences. They’ve offered us a place at Kaimes, but that would mean him going on a bus with eight other children when he doesn’t speak. Felix has a phobia of sirens, bells and buzzers and Kaimes is on a main road."
Mrs Rose claimed that Kaimes would not provide Felix with the support he needed. "I wanted him to go to Donaldson’s where they have in-house speech therapy. At Kaimes, he would have to share therapy twice a week with eight others. He needs more than that to fulfil his potential."
Mrs Rose added that, within a month of her husband’s death, she had been asked to look at schools for Felix, but in the end had been refused a place for him at Donaldson’s despite a psychologist’s recommendation that he should go there.
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