The Mystery of Special Education in Ontario

In the field of Special Education, September is always the busiest month of the year.  The first month, the school admin are finalizing staff and class lists, resource teachers are speaking with classroom teachers and educational assistants about special needs students, classroom teachers are figuring out their students names and what their schedule looks like, and support staff are learning the students and how to best support them.  In my experience, nothing really gets finalized for the year until Thanksgiving weekend.  Students are still moving, teachers are determining IEP’s, and educational assistants are getting moved around. 

I am constantly reminded of how much dedication, passion and care my teaching colleagues possess.  I know lots of teachers who constantly work 55-60 hours a week.  They arrive an hour early, stay 30-60 minutes after, and do all their grading and lesson plans on the weekends.  They will have multiple phone calls every week, 200 papers to grade, 60 different lesson plans, and make a thousand decisions in a week.  And they do it with grace, compassion, and respect for every student in their class.  

I share this because collaboration with your school is always the best route to advocacy.  I know having to re-educate the school staff every year is frustrating but it is necessary.  When my wife and I are working with our children’s staff, we always have two key points in mind.  One, we will have one big ask that is the highest priority for the year.  This year, we want to see our son’s reading level increase by two grade levels.  We won’t determine how that is to happen.  We leave that to the teaching professionals to figure out.  Second, we only ask for things the school can deliver.  We will ask for a quiet learning environment, a resource teacher who understands FASD, board support people who understand ABA, behaviour and sensory needs, a classroom teacher who maintains routine and establishes relationship, admin who understand the difference between will and frustration, and regular honest communication between staff and us. 

There are two facts most people are not aware of regarding special education.  The first fact is special education in Ontario has not been revised since 1999.  When you consider in 1999, we were still institutionalizing our special needs children for the rest of their lives, we are using archaic procedures and policies as the basis of special education.  Most people don’t realize IPRC’s came about because schools used to deny entrance to special needs students.  The IPRC process came about to stop that practice.  That is why in the IPRC there are two things determined.  If the student is identified with an exceptionality, then they must be placed somewhere within the school system in the environment that makes the most sense.  However, the Education Act was amended in 2008 to eliminate the possibility of students being denied entrance due to an exceptionality.  And now, we have accessibility laws that take it even further.  This is why most school boards are easing out of the IPRC process and going straight to IEP’s.  There are now other laws that accomplish the exact same thing as an IPRC. 

The other thing most people don’t realize is IEP’s only impact grading.  The IEP determines how the student gets graded for their report card.  And grading is determined solely by the teacher and their professional judgment.  The principal, the resource teacher, any school board personnel can advise the teacher, but they do make the final judgment as to how the student will be graded. 

So how does educational assistant support get determined?  The Ministry of Education establishes that criteria.  The criteria is the students must have two of three particular needs.  They must have a medical need such as feeding, toileting, mobility, breathing supports, a safety need such as a lack of danger awareness, regular violence, regularly running away, or use of weapons, or a functioning need such as lack of social skills, communication, or intellectual challenges.  Interestedly, this criteria is exactly the same for Developmental Services and Community Living.  In other words, educational assistants are for individuals who live fully dependent lives.  Now there has been times in my children’s lives where they were fully dependent on us and their support structure to function.  During those times, an educational assistant was and is necessary.  However, the goal is always to eliminate the need for the educational assistant and have them live interdependent lives with safe places, good people, proper strategies and calm environments at a grade level they can do independently.

So what do you do if you can’t get the collaboration you need from the school?  The IPRC meeting can be used for that purpose as well.  The IPRC meeting can bring the principal, resource teacher, guidance counselor and classroom teacher together with you and your advocate.  During the discussion involving the identification, you can explain what FASD is, what it looks like and why it should be defined as a physical disability involving the brain.  During the placement discussion, you can talk about the need for resource teacher involvement and possible educational assistant support.  And if one of the members leave or aren’t present during the meeting, you can refuse to sign the paper and request a second meeting in writing and make it clear all three people need to be present.  Ideally, though, the school should respond positively to a simple verbal request to meet.  An IPRC request should be used with discretion.  If you have a concern about the class, speak directly to the teacher and express the concern.  If you feel you want to speak to resource or the principal because your conversation with the classroom teacher wasn’t fruitful, always do so.  In my opinion, an IPRC request should be used after 2-3 attempts with the classroom teacher, resource teacher and principal have been made and your clear and simple request is being dismissed.  In my experience, it loses its impact if it gets used frequently.

The school system is very large and very complex at times.  However, it doesn’t need to be.  Know your child, learn how to collaborate with your school and keep it simple.  Pick one goal at a time and focus on it.  Remember, it is not a sprint, it is a journey and even when things are bad, you are still gaining insight into long-term solutions.