skip to main |
skip to sidebar
From
The Press in New Zealand:
A Government about-turn on therapy funding for severely disabled children still leaves many needy children "out in the cold", parents and principals say.
A $2.5 million funding cut announced in the May Budget put specialist units for disabled children, such as the conductive education unit at Addington Primary School in Christchurch, under threat.
Education Minister Anne Tolley August 14 reversed that decision, saying children already receiving additional therapy at 23 New Zealand schools would continue to be funded in their current school. However, no new pupils would be eligible for the funding.
Christchurch mother Anna Francis said that decision left her four-year-old son, Alex, out in the cold. (Both are pictured.)
He attends Addington's conductive education preschool and she wanted him to go to the primary school unit next year, but he will not qualify for additional therapy support, leaving his future there uncertain.
Alex has severe spastic quadriplegia and dystonic cerebral palsy. He cannot talk, walk or eat orally, is visually impaired, and has weight and sleep problems.
Francis said their local school, Heathcote Primary, would take Alex, but he would not be able to cope in a mainstream class.
People seemed to think all children should be mainstreamed, she said, but it would be a disaster for Alex, as he could not easily handle change.
If Francis chose to home-school him, she would not qualify for teacher-aide funding.
"They [the Government] are taking our only option away," she said. "It's robbing him and he's been robbed enough."
Francis said the cost of keeping her son at Addington would be minuscule compared with the cost of enrolling him at Heathcote.
A friend who had recently enrolled her child with cerebral palsy in a nearby school said the building modifications alone cost $50,000, and one-to-one support was another $30,000 a year.
Last year, the Ministry of Education spent more than $18m on special-needs modifications for 233 schools.
Heathcote principal Greg Lewis said he was happy to have Alex at the school, but the prospect brought up "a lot of unknowns".
The modifications and upskilling of staff required to deal with Alex would be significant, and the funding he attracted would not be enough to cover the kind of professional help he needed.
"It's very easy to hire a teacher aide on $14 an hour with no experience and say, `There you go, good luck', but the reality is that is not and should never be the case," Lewis said.
"I would have serious concerns about the detrimental effect on school budgets and the operating grant that we receive if we are having to make up the shortfall."
Ad Feedback Addington principal Trudy Heath said the news that current pupils would keep their funding was a "small celebration".
"I think we have won a battle, but the war continues, because we have still got to keep fighting this," she said.
Heath said there were up to five disabled children wanting to enrol next year, and one or two were leaving the unit, so she could be facing higher enrolments with less money.
The mother of 12-year-old Addington pupil Brittany Graham, who The Press featured in a story about the impact of the funding cut last month, said she was "very excited" about the news.
"I couldn't believe it. I didn't think it would happen that quick, or happen at all," Julie Baker said.
"But it's gutting for other parents with kids coming through."
From The Press in New Zealand:
