By Rebecca Bradley
My special needs son is 7 years old and since his kindergarten year I have been advocating for appropriate learning supports for him to be able to attend out local public catchment school. Due to the school’s unwillingness to provide these supports we have had no choice but to so a combination of homeschooling and online hybrid schooling with only 4 hours of supported learning a week at our local autism center.
My son is diagnosed as level 5 autistic and requiring a high level of support. He is nonverbal, has a global development delay, ADHD, and suffers with a chronic headache disorder. Over the last 2-3 years I have provided his catchment school documentation of my son’s formal diagnosis as well as supporting documentation from his care team that supports his need for a 1 to 1 ratio support worker. He struggles with aggression when his headaches are bothering him and has no sense of road danger and is at risk of running into traffic. My son would not be safe in a school without a support worker or educational assistant at all times.
It’s very disheartening that despite meetings with the school and having a school staff member come and observe my son in a playground setting they still maintain they cannot promise a dedicated worker for my son. This leaves us with no choice but to send him to school anyway knowing he will be unsafe and others will be at risk as well or do another year of hybrid at home learning. I am unable to go back to school myself or work full-time due to this.
Why is my son not deserving of the same education that a neurotypical kid is?
Why is my child being left out?
Why am I left to feel that asking for the basic supports needed for my son to be successful and safe in his learning?
The environment is too much!
These are the questions I am left asking. I will continue to advocate and fight for educational equality for my special needs son, and it is my hope with resources such as the library that more families will have the supports they need to advocate for their children’s educational needs.