Subj : Neurodiverse students need more Govt support to lift attendance - advo
To   : All
From : News
Date : Sun Apr 14 2024 11:19 am

Parents of children with conditions like autism or dyslexia say the
Government's attendance announcement failed to acknowledge why they're
struggling to keep neurodiverse students at school - a lack of inclusivity.


"Our children also deserve a quality education and should be having high
attendance rates.


"Actually, why are you not addressing those issues and making sure our
children can attend?" Neuroscience and Trauma Informed Network Aotearoa
founder Frian Wadia said.


The Government announced a target of 80% of students attending school
regularly by 2030. The latest data from Term 4 last year shows 53.6% of
students had regular attendance, which is attending more than 90% of school
time.


"The stat looks bad but you have to delve into why that is and there would
be, we believe, a large proportion of our autistic tamariki who want to go to
school who aren't going to school because the environment's not right so we
need to look at the system, we need to look at the underlying issues as to
why and address those," Autism New Zealand chief executive Dame Dougan said.


One in five students need extra support for their learning, according to the
Ministry of Education but a 2016 select committee inquiry found support is
inconsistent.


"We don't apologise for setting the (attendance) goal, we do acknowledge that
there's a range of reasons people aren't attending that the Government needs
to address and that's exactly what we're committed to doing over the coming
years," Associate Education Minister David Seymour said.


Seymour said improving learning support will take the Government "months or
years" and there won't be an increase in funding.


The former Government said in 2022 that $1.2 billion is spent annually on
learning support.


"More money hasn't solved problems in education or actually, in any other
area.


"It's going to be about using the money we have smarter, it's going to be
about better classroom management, it's using the resources available as
effectively as possible," Seymour said.


One in five students need extra support for their learning, according to the
Ministry of Education but a 2016 select committee inquiry found support is
inconsistent.


NATINA Trust founder Frian Wadia also supports parents through the Parent to
Parent network and VIPS - Equity in Education NZ Facebook group and hears
their experiences.


"Often for other parents, they are forced to pick up their children from
school at 12 or 1 or even sometimes just doing two hours because they say
they don't cope... for me the key here is why are there no accommodations and
adaptations and appropriate learning support so that teachers can respond to
those individual needs?"


She said discrimination can also look like not being included on school
camps, outdoor trips or cultural event celebrations.


"We are seeing a lot of children as well whose schools are standing our kids
down in ways that, they're saying `Oh there's a big assembly today, you might
want to go home cause it's going to be overwhelming for you,'" Autism New
Zealand chief executive Dane Dougan said.


"That's not right, like they should have the same inclusive experience that
everyone else has."


These neurodiversity advocates say to improve poor attendance among the
community, they're calling for all classrooms to be inclusive which might
look like spaces for autistic children to have a break if they're
overwhelmed, as well as the assistive technology they may need such as iPads
and noise cancelling headphones.


Other measures include adequate learning support for students in need from
teacher aides trained in how to help neurodiverse children and ensuring
teachers at all schools receive this education too.


Dougan says the Government provides funding for his organisation to provide
teacher training for schools that opt in, but there are waiting lists and
funding would need to be increased if it was a requirement for all schools.


1News contacted the universities of Canterbury, Auckland, Waikato, Otago and
the Auckland University of Technology about the claim training for teaching
neurodiverse children needs to be improved.


University of Otago College of Education Dean Professor Vivienne Anderson
responded that all Otago's initial teacher education programmes include
papers on inclusive teaching and practice.


"Students have multiple opportunities across our programmes to learn about
and plan for teaching neurodiverse learners effectively, and this is a focus
in our assessment tasks.


"The right of neurodivergent children and young people to access quality
education is a particular passion for many of our staff, who have personal
experience in this area," she stated.


NATINA Trust founder Frian Wadia said a school's senior leadership and Board
of Trustees have a responsibility to ensure they have systems and processes
in place informed by inclusion and trauma-informed policies.


"If the policies and practices are set up really well then the load is not on
individual people themselves, they have a system that is supporting them to
be more inclusive."


She said schools that have adopted this approach are seeing the benefits.


"They actually have high attendance rates, they have high academic outcomes
for their children, they have better teacher retention rates and the teachers
themselves, they have better wellbeing, they're not as stressed out and
fatigued as you hear across the board."

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