Parent says sending children with disabilities home from school takes heavy toll
N.B. child and youth advocate reports hundreds of children are being denied their right to education
Cassie Martin says she's called in twice a month to pick up her nine-year-old son from his Riverview school, a situation that's led her to consider homeschooling.
Martin's son requires a wheelchair and catheter maintenance, is intellectually impaired and struggles with emotional regulation, but Martin says he does not have his own educational assistant for support at school.
Last week, Child and Youth Advocate Kelly Lamrock reported hundreds of New Brunswick students with disabilities or behavioural challenges are being sent home without learning materials under a "partial day plan" – a practice he said breaks provincial education laws.
Martin is hoping that report will translate to better support for her son during school hours, and fewer cases where children with disabilities are sent home.
"I am hoping that the right people in the right power will understand that what is going on right now with these children and their families, is not OK," Martin said.
Based on her research at the University of New Brunswick on inclusion in the education system, Melissa Dockrill Garrett said it appears partial day plans are often being used.
But without support outside the classroom, the situation can take a toll on students and families, she said.
"We have heard stories of people who have had to leave their jobs to go and pick up their children from one day to another, and that constant sense of worry," Dockrill Garrett said.
"There's also the extremely taxing part of advocacy — advocating for your child and not knowing necessarily where to go within the system just to ensure that your child is getting the supports that they need."
Ainsley Congdon, executive director the Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick, has heard similar stories from parents.
"The parents suspected that [the student] had dyslexia ... and the student had also been diagnosed with ADHD. And in this situation, the student was refusing to do work," she said.
"They were not violent, there was no outburst.... Rather than looking at the reason for the work refusal, they just sent the student home."
Dockrill Garrett said the partial day plan can be useful when used properly.
"Inclusion doesn't mean that a student is 100 per cent of the time in the classroom ... interventions and different learning can happen outside of that common learning environment," she said.
"I think what becomes problematic is when students are removed from the common learning environment or even the school itself without a plan for re-entry."
Congdon hopes to see students on a partial day plan receive similar support to what her daughter has experienced.
"My daughter has learning disabilities, and so she is pulled from class and gets one-on-one intensive intervention that meets her needs, and then she goes back to the classroom," Congdon said.
"So why can't a student with behaviour issues be pulled from the classroom, get some guidance and support, some strategies for regulation, and then be brought back to class with their peers?"
None of the seven school districts provided an interview on the report.
District Scolaire Francophone Sud spokesperson Jean-Luc Thériault said Friday the district is "not aware of the specific data that informed" Lamrock's conclusions.
Spokesperson Brigitte Couturier said the District Scolaire Francophone Nord-Ouest uses the partial day plan as a temporary measure. Spokesperson Paul MacIntosh said the Anglophone West School District is reviewing the report's findings.
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