TE HUNGA HAUĀ MAURI MŌ NGĀ TĀNGATA KĀTOA
Submission on the inquiry into the
identification and support for students with
dyslexia, dyspraxia, and Autism Spectrum
Disorders in primary and secondary schools
2 October 2015
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Contents
About us ........................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 3
The views of children ....................................................................................... 3
Exclusion and delivering additional education support ..................................... 4
The culture and environment of the classroom ................................................ 5
Inequalities in access to assessments ............................................................. 6
Autism Spectrum Disorders and exclusion ...................................................... 7
Māori and Autism Spectrum Disorders ............................................................ 8
Ethnicity and additional education needs ......................................................... 8
Magnet schools and enrolment ........................................................................ 9
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 10
Bibliography ................................................................................................... 11
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About us
CCS Disability Action is a community organisation that has been advocating
for disabled people to be included in the community since 1935. We provide
support to over 5,000 people with disabilities and their families and whānau
each year. Our support focuses on breaking down barriers to participation.
We receive a mixture of government and private funding
We run the Mobility Parking scheme. As of June 30 2015, this scheme
supported more than 122,000 people to more easily access their local towns
and facilities. We have a network of access coordinators, who work with local
government and transport operators to create a more inclusive society.
Our fully owned subsidiary, Lifetime Design Ltd, advocates for and provides
universal design guidelines to improve the accessibility of New Zealand
housing, which will benefit all people throughout their life. Lifetime Design Ltd
is run as a social enterprise.
Our governance has strong disabled leadership.
Our advocacy is evidence-informed, honest and responsible.
What unites and drives our organisation are common values. We believe
that the community should value and include disabled people. When the
community and government do not include disabled people – it creates
disabling barriers.
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Introduction
Equality of opportunity is a key principle underpinning our education system.
All children should be able to access the support, teaching and learning
environment to achieve their potential. This includes students with disabilities
who need to have full access to any accommodations they need to be
present, participate and succeed in mainstream classes alongside their nondisabled peers.
There is a clear need to make sure both children with learning disabilities and
children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are well supported and feel included
at schools. An estimated 6 per cent of children aged 0 to 14 have a learning
disability (Statistics New Zealand, 2014). The number of children with Autism
Spectrum Disorders has steadily increased over the last decade, but may now
be stabilising at around 1.7/1.8 per cent, with boys having a much higher rate
than girls (Ministry of Health, 2013).
It is tempting to look at the issues children with learning disabilities and
children with Autism Spectrum Disorders face as being only about resourcing
and assessment. The views of children themselves as well as the research
base are clear that the attitudes of teachers and the classroom environment
play a key role in whether all children feel included. Whether children feel
included, in turn, affects their performance and behaviour.
While more resources are sometimes needed, teachers and principals should
never underestimate the Mana they have to change the underlying culture
and norms so that all children feel they belong. Schools need adequate
resourcing to deliver quality education for all, but resources on their own
cannot make all children feel like they belong.
The views of children
The views of disabled children have often been missing in debates and
consultation on education. Consulting with whānau/family as well as youth
and adults with disabilities is important, but children see the world differently.
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Adults are often set in their ways and children are more open-minded. If we
listen to children, we can better understand what children need to thrive.
Listening and responding to the views of children also shows that we value
and respect them. It brings the principles of a child-centred approach to life.
New Zealand has signed two international agreements, which state the rights
of children to have their voices heard, the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There
is a growing research base around engaging with children, including disabled
children (MacArthur & McKenzie, 2013, p. 83). It is possible to have genuine
engagement with children.
The views of children, especially children with disabilities, can be particularly
powerful for highlighting the hidden norms and assumptions that can create
barriers in education. Australian research into the views of students with
learning disabilities revealed important insights into what teaching strategies
and styles were more effective as well as the importance of the culture of the
school (Watson, 2007).
The Education and Science Select Committee should actively seek out the
views of both children with learning disabilities and children with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. Teachers and principals as well as officials should also
regularly seek out the views of children; especially children who find the
existing school environment challenging.
Exclusion and delivering additional education support
Research has found that exclusion leads to reduced self-esteem and
increased negative emotions. These negative effects are found even when the
individual volunteers to be excluded or expects it. Multiple studies have found
that the effects of being excluded are worse than bullying. Feeling excluded
can cause long-lasting serious harm for adolescents and children. Further,
feelings of exclusion are also linked to poor academic performance (Williams
& Nida, 2014, pp. 39-40).
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Research has also found that children with disabilities are more likely to be
targets of rejection and exclusion (Williams & Nida, 2014, p. 40). Not only can
disabled children experience exclusion from other children, but the education
system itself can actively exclude them. While children with disabilities may
sometimes need extra assistance, the design and delivery of that assistance
is crucial. If disabled children feel excluded from the rest of their peers, the
extra assistance could be counterproductive. It could lead to lower selfesteem and poorer academic performance.
Additional education support that takes a child away from their peers should
be kept to a minimum. The educational gains of one-on-one time need to be
balanced against the possible negative effects of the child feeling excluded.
Wherever possible, additional support should be delivered in the child’s
regular classroom and well-integrated within the overall lesson.
The same principle should apply to the use of teacher aides. Teacher aides
should not be seen as a legitimate substitute for quality teaching. It is
important that teacher aides support the child in a way that includes the child
in the wider education and social life of their classroom. They should not sit in
the corner alone with the child doing individual tasks all of the time. A child
feeling included within a classroom and connected to their peers is ultimately
more important than individual educational activities.
The culture and environment of the classroom
The underlying norms and structure of classrooms can significantly affect a
student’s confidence, feelings of belonging and performance (Cohen &
Garcia, 2014, p. 15). This can be especially true of children with additional
education needs, who are more vulnerable to exclusion, both deliberate and
unintentional (Williams & Nida, 2014, p. 40). In general, the issues people with
disabilities face are not primarily individual issues, but are environmental and
social issues (Sherlaw, Lucas, Jourdain, & Monaghan, 2014, p. 449).
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By shifting the environment as well as culture of a classroom so that everyone
feels included and that they belong, you can boost the performance and
confidence of all students, including students with additional education needs.
A growing research base is demonstrating the significant power of the
physical design of classrooms as well as the behaviour of teachers on
student’s choices and performance, including for students with disabilities
(Cheryan, Ziegler, Plaut, & Meltzoff, 2014, pp. 5-6).
It is possible to meet every child’s needs within mainstream classrooms. It
does require creativity as well as knowledge of what works for every child.
Knowing what works for every child requires teachers to seek both the views
of children themselves and to know the growing research base on effective
practices and interventions. Teachers need to understand the, often subtle,
ways they can influence the culture and norms of a classroom and use this to
help all students feel included (Cohen & Garcia, 2014). Both the views of
children and research shows that teachers have considerable power to
influence how included children feel as well as the confidence of children
(Watson, 2007).
While sometimes more resources are needed. Teachers and principals should
never underestimate their ability to change the classroom and school
environment so that everyone feels safe and included. Limited resources
should not stop schools from considering how they could change their
environment and practices to make everyone feel welcome, including student
with learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Inequalities in access to assessments
Currently, it can be very difficult and expensive to access assessments for
both learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia as well as Autism
Spectrum Disorders. The extra cost and difficulty has led to wide inequities in
the rates of diagnosis as well as access to additional education support. Often
whānau/families seek private assessment because of the difficulty accessing
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Ministry of Education funded education psychologists. Only higher income
whānau/families can afford this, however.
A diagnosis, or label, is not always helpful for children, but for children who
need additional education support, it is often necessary, at least in the current
system.
A recent Ministry of Education review of special exam assistance found that
high decile schools accessed special exam assistance at a disproportionately
high rate (Ministry of Education, 2014, p. 16). In the 2012/13 New Zealand
Health Survey diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorders as well as emotional
and behavioral issues tended to be higher for boys in higher income quintiles
(Ministry of Health, 2013).
The Ministry of Education needs to acknowledge that without easy and free
access to assessment processes, some students will be disadvantaged. The
Ministry needs, therefore, to work on a fair and consistent way for all children
to be able to access assessments. If teachers are concerned about a student
they should be able to refer students free of charge for an assessment so they
do not continue to fall through the cracks.
Autism Spectrum Disorders and exclusion
A study in New South Wales found a huge increase between 1997 and 2007
in referrals for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to special units and
schools. In special units, the number of children with Autism Spectrum
Disorders grew by 280% (Grahama & Sweller, 2011, pp. 944-947).
Unfortunately, comparable studies have not been done in New Zealand, but it
is reasonable to expect a similar trend.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are vulnerable to exclusion.
Families can feel compelled to put their child in a special unit or special school
because of a lack of support and/or a welcoming environment in mainstream
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classrooms. It is not sustainable, or right, for children with Autism Spectrum
Disorders to be excluded from mainstream classes.
Mainstream classes and teachers need to become more responsive to
teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. All teachers should expect
to teach children with Autism Spectrum Disorders during their career (Ravet,
2011, p. 667). Teachers need training and resources to do this well. This
includes initial teacher training as well as ongoing professional development.
The research into ways to effectively engage and teach children with Autism
Spectrum Disorders is growing.
Māori and Autism Spectrum Disorders
There is currently very limited research on Māori and Autism Spectrum
Disorders (Ministries of Health and Education, 2008). There is a need for
more understanding of the unique barriers Māori children and their whānau
might face. There also needs to be more of a focus on ensuring Kura
Kaupapa Māori schools can meet the needs of all the students who may wish
to attend an immersion school. Māori children with Autism Spectrum
Disorders have the same right to learn their language and culture as other
Māori children. Pasifika children and Autism Spectrum Disorders is another
poorly understood area.
Ethnicity and additional education needs
In general the relationship between ethnicity and children needing additional
education supports needs to be better understood. It is possible that at least
some of the additional education needs may result from a mismatch between
a predominately western education style and the learning styles of children
from different cultural backgrounds. Through adaptions to make teaching
styles more inclusive of other cultures, it may be possible to reduce some of
the needs for additional education support.
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Magnet schools and enrolment
The Education Act, the Human Rights Act, the New Zealand Disability
Strategy and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities all
guarantee disabled children’s right to attend their local, regular school.
Despite this, the experience of individual students with disabilities still varies
wildly and more often than not depends on the individual school.
Disabled students often lack representation on school boards. The selfmanaging nature of our schools and society’s attitudes toward disability
means that discrimination is a reality for some disabled students and their
families. Disabled students are still not welcome at some schools, especially if
they do not come with extra resources (Wills & Rosenbaum, 2013, p. 35).
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders can be particularly vulnerable to
discrimination due to assumptions and attitudes towards Autism Spectrum
Disorders.
Schools that welcome and accommodate disabled students tend to attract
more students with disabilities, becoming magnet schools. This puts pressure
on their resourcing. By comparison, schools that are not welcoming to
disabled students have less funding pressure and do not have to adapt their
teaching methods or classroom environment to the same extent. Currently,
schools are being, effectively, rewarded (in a resourcing sense) for
discouraging students with additional learning needs from enrolling.
Unfortunately, the recent Education Review Office Report on inclusive
education did a poor job of highlighting this issue. The Report itself noted that
it was difficult to determine which schools may have turned students away.
The Report found that some families had to try several schools before their
children were enrolled (Education Review Office, 2015, p. 10). This mirrors
the findings of our previous Families Choices research.
In our Families Choices research, of the families with disabled children
surveyed, 40% of them attended a school they were not zoned for. 36% of
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these families said this was because their local school was not suitable or that
their local school was unwelcoming or that the support was not adequate. In
addition, enrolments in special schools have increased (Both in absolute
terms and relative to the total number of enrolments) and we continue to hear
concerns from disabled children and their families about discrimination and
unequal treatment in schools (Ministry of Education, 2015).
More needs to be done to tackle the issues around enrolment. Every student,
over the age of 6, has the right to attend school and this should be their local
school.
Conclusion
We do not want to downplay the issues around resourcing and accessing
assessment. Solving these issues is however, only one part of the puzzle.
Teachers and principals need to better understand how they can shape the
environment within schools so that everyone feels included. Ultimately
children with learning disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders will grow up
to be adults. Whether they feel they can participate in and belong to their
community is likely to be influenced by their experiences at school. By
including all children in schools, we set the stage for an inclusive society – a
place where everyone feels they belong. There is no denying the challenges,
but we feel teachers and principals often underestimate the Mana they have
to influence the environment and culture of their schools and classrooms.
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