The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist suntribune education thursday april 19 2001 opening classrooms to everybody despite shrinking funds york boards welcome specialneeds students by kathleen griffin staff writer thats my child in the wheel chair but behind him are a whole line of people who care susan mckinnon taylor mckinnon is eight years old and in grade 3 hes a bright talkative little guy with a great sense of humour he loves horse racing computers and is forever laughing at the antics of his friends taylor also has cerebral palsy and a mild form of autism hes confined to a wheelchair and needs an education assistant to help him get around st monica catholic school m markham as taylor approached school age his parents susan and michael who live outside the school boundaries requested a meeting with st monica principal paul game this made sense since taylor was attending the daycare centre attached to the school the first daycare willing to take him after 13 others said no mr game didnt blink susan recalled i went in ready to cry i was very apprehensive i needed before- andafter care and wanted taylor to stay at the daycare where he was wellcared for mr game just looked at me and said no problem mckinnons experience may not be typical but she has nothing but praise for st monica staff and the york catholic district school board which she says offered unexpected support i was not about to let taylor fall through the cracks but i never had to worry everyone has been amaz ing and i know if i hadnt found this school and this daycare i wouldnt have the child i have now its not magic its just a lot of hard work said principal game communication is critical over time we get to know the children staff photosjoerd witteveen markhams taylor mckinnon front feels welcome at st monica catholic school despite having cerebral palsy and a mild form of autism and we all work as a team planning modifications for each child that team includes parents teachers special education teachers and assistants principals board staff and many others along the way its a massive machine that is now runnmg on low fuel as both york region boards struggle with the everincreasing numbers of special needs kids coupled with the regions unchecked growth in the past there were lots of agencies and institutions for par ents to access explained catholic supenntendent of student services lee wilson now there arent many support services thats the reality in york region wilson said schools are educat ing children with medical problems never seen in the system before five years ago we rarely saw autistic children or children with significant needs next year 55 little ones with special needs are enter- how special education works iep students identified as exceptional will have an iep prepared individual education plan this plan addresses the childs specific learn ing challenges as well as hisher disability physical intellectual com municative emotional or behavioural ifs reviewed several times a year with full parental involvement seppa special education per pupil amount based not on how many children need special education but on total number of students funding is 500 per pupil to grade 3 300 to grade 8 and 200 for high school students 1 isa intensive support and assessment there are three levels school boards can access- isa 1 provides for equipment up to 800 per child this can include items like speech analyzers print enlargers for students with low vision specialized computer programs or modified desks and woiktables to secure isa 2 12000 per claim and isa 3 27000 per claim funding students must meet seven cntena including an assessment that demonstrates moderatetosevere level 2 or severetoprofound level 3 disability students must require individual support or supervi sion because they are unable to work independently or to ensure the health and safety of others funding the major challenge dollars have not increased in three years despite a jump in enrolment due to growth sixtyone per cent of ontano boards had more eligible students this year compared to last and 82 per cent of boards submitted more claims but only 13 per cent of boards had a higher claim validation rate meaning 88 per cent of boards had fewer claims approved than they did the year before with more claims submitted york region public board total students- 89732 special education students through the identification placement and review committee 11351 special education funding 50 5 million york region catholic board total students- 79727 special education students 15 to 20 per cent identified as excep tional or about 13500 special education funding 12 million ing jk and among those who are visually or hearing impaired 50 per cent are also autistic educators often try to identify preschoolers with special needs like taylor while in daycares or nursery schools that way when they enter junior kindergarten the school and teacher are prepared mckinnon remembers that call the teacher phoned me the summer before taylor started jk to learn more about him she wanted to know not only about his physical needs but his learning patterns history and his personality both boards strive to provide students with the support they need to succeed in class while keeping them with their peers whenever possible we provide service in the childs regular class supported by a special ed teacher explained louise moreau co-ordi- nator of special education for the york region district school board that person could be an occupa tional therapist a speech and lan guage pathologist or teachers for the deaf and blind students might attend their reg ular classes with parttime inclass support or they might attend regu lar class for about halfthe day then change rooms for more intensive instruction in a smaller setting and both boards offer commu nity classrooms where students from four or five neighbourhood schools attend classes in one facili ty providing tailored programming but the growing complexity of student needs in an underfunded system is putting increasing stress on school boards more so since the province implemented a new fund ing model in 199899 that year we had 100 per cent validation of our claims for about 12 million wilson said the fol lowing year the criteria were more restrictive and the claims that are being denied increase every year special education is challeng ing and uniquely rewarding said the public boards moreau adding funding is consisteridy greater than what is provided by the province for example ontariowide approval rates went from 865 per centin 1998 to 731 per cent last year but were all doing the best we can for these kids wilson said taylor is proof and his mom recognizes its the people who make the difference