By Andrew Taylor
Every child (click here) in NSW has a legal right to access and participate in education, regardless of disability or special needs.
But Carly Landa said there were "definitely negative consequences" to sending her son to school.
Louie, now 11, went to school for three years before his parents decided to home-school him.
"For Louie, it just didn't work," she said of her son, who is on the autism spectrum. "The ideal is every student's needs are met and that every student is supported as a learner.
"But the reality just doesn't actually translate. The numbers in the classroom, the lack of support."...
Parents of disabled students in many places, not just New South Wales, have an additional burden, they must home school their children FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.
It is an unspoken truth that effects the child and the parents and their potential to acquire income that leads to poor choices for the families future. When a parent sees a child, a disabled child, suffer day after day from bullying there is no choice left, but, to homeschool. The school systems fail these children and families are left with poor choices.
One parent has to decide or perhaps is the only one qualified to homeschool a child or children. That means their ability to work outside the home is diminished and quite possibly a loss of income is felt all to profoundly by the couple.
Teachers' assistants assigned to classrooms can also be a help on the playground, buses and walks to school. They can be the eyes and ears to bring vigilance to worried parents and scared children. It is not that costly to employ more people to be those important intermediaries to protect the emotional health of children as they learn lessons important to their future rather than harsh lessons about life.
Unless the culture of a society provides the basis for bullying, as is the case in the USA, there should be no mistake; the bullies should be homeschooled and not the children deserving of a good education facing a challenging future. What is learned by children when their parents decide their sacrifice is important to protect their child? I am afraid of the actual lessons learned when retreat by a disabled child is the only solution.
