Public schools not ready for autistic children

Children with Autism in this country do not get a proper education. Founder and director, Support Autism TT, Dr Radica Mahase said TT was not ready for inclusion of those with special needs into the public school system.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mahase said TT’s education system had not placed any importance on people with special needs or different abilities.

“Given the increasing number of children who are diagnosed with various special needs, the Ministry of Education needs to have modernised schools established in various geographic areas throughout TT, staffed with qualified, trained and experienced teachers, with individual educational plans according to the students’ ability and sensory-friendly facilities.”

In an interview with Newsday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia assured more emphasis would be paid to children with special needs to ensure they had access to the kind of education that was their right.

Garcia made the comment on Wednesday in reaction to learning that Rihanna Reed, 11, who has autism, never attended primary school. Reed fell from the third-floor balcony of her mother’s Maloney Gardens apartment while trying to climb out to get to her friend’s apartment on Monday. She is now hospitalised at the Eric Williams Medical Complex Paediatric Ward, Mt Hope.

Mahase said government special schools catered for children of varying special needs – children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome and other mental/physical conditions were often lumped together in one school.

She said teachers were not properly trained to deal with the children and they were too low in numbers, overworked and overwhelmed, while they did not have the adequate resources.

“Some of the public primary schools tend to accept high functioning children with Autism, once the Ministry of Education grants a teaching aide. Unfortunately, some parents who have requested teaching aides more than a few years ago are still waiting to have one assigned to their child.”

Mahase said many parents struggled to get through the day with their children not having major meltdowns, and parents and caregivers who were with their children 24/7 were exhausted because there was no support system in place to help them on a daily basis.

She said challenges came in all forms and sizes and also depended on the individual child or family.

Garcia also told Newsday the ministry was working on a plan to have teachers trained properly to deal with special-needs children.

He said the ministry was going to pay special emphasis to the children who experienced a wide range of disabilities.

“Apart from the delivery of quality education, one of the pillars we are building the education system this year is on access.

“Our teachers will be more equipped and trained to deal with children with special-needs children. I know it is a challenge, because in many of our schools these are some of the difficulties teachers experience in dealing with these children.”

Garcia said teachers would be adequately trained and would be able to work with parents to help the needs of special-needs children.

He said he was told Reed and her brother, who is also autistic, attended pre-school and teachers at primary school did their best to accommodate one of the children. According to the father, Garcia said, teachers could not deal with the children and they were homeschooled.

“They made efforts to enrol the children at special schools which had the facilities, but the cost was too high for the father to pay. It was costing $3,500 a term and the family could not afford the bill. The father took the responsibility to homeschool the children, which was successful, because the children could read and write.”

Garcia said the Student Support Services Division (SSSD) would contact the parents this week to see what assistance the ministry could provide.

He said the SSSD would be headed by Prof Dennis Conrad who was mapping out a plan so that what happened in Reed’s case would not happen again in the near future.

Meanwhile, Ryan Reed, father of Rihanna said she remained under heavy sedation but was resting comfortably.

“The doctors are waiting for the swelling on her head to go down before they wake her up. Once it is satisfactory to them, they will do further tests to see if there is any brain injury.

“Right now she don’t know what is happening around her, but God is good all the time. She will be fine.”