Mother hoping to get autistic son into a school
Joel Campbell is 13, and children this age would normally be completing their second year at high school.
But this teenager is not currently enrolled in school, as he has special needs. His mother, Monique McDonald, said Joel was diagnosed as being autistic, but the lack of an assessment is preventing him from being placed in a suitable learning institution.
“It is a big financial issue. The cheapest school I can get him in is about $18,000, and they will not take him because he is not assessed. The private-school fees are ridiculously high. I just need the help to get him assessed and get him into a school. I cannot afford to get him assessed privately, but
I really want to see my son in school and just getting a shot at life. So I am asking anyone or any organisation who can help me to get him assessed to please do so,” she pleaded. An assessment costs about $65,000.
McDonald, who has three other children, said she had a normal pregnancy and delivery with Joel, but said she realised, when he was about two years old, that he was not developing as quickly as other children. She expressed her concern to one of his doctors, who told her that the developmental stages for children varies.
“He wasn’t talking any at all. He was about five years old when he began walking. As a baby, I realised that he didn’t follow sounds and he didn’t play back when I played with him,” she said.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. People with the disorder often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviours or interests. At that time, McDonald said the word ‘autism’ was foreign to her, so she kept telling herself that Joel was just slower than her other children.
“I sent him to a regular basic school and he did not function like the rest of children, but the teachers there worked with him. He was a handful, and the only word he said was ‘Mommy’. When he left basic school, I was having challenges with him, and to be honest, I was saying that he was rude and no one could manage him. I couldn’t get him in a school because of his behaviour. One school kept him for a week, and that’s it,” she said.
A frustrated McDonald said she tried to homeschool Joel. By the time he was seven, he started saying a few more words but mostly communicated by pointing.
“My sister was going to nursing school, then she started working at a daycare and she told me that there were other children there like
Joel and their parents said it was autism. I then started reading up about it, and I could see all the signs in Joel,” McDonald said.
She said that she did not know where to turn for assistance, and so Joel was not properly diagnosed until age 10. During that time she homeschooled him, and even took him to a few speech therapy sessions, but those were unsuccessful.
“I just didn’t know where to go at all. A doctor told me that she would get some information as to where to go, but that didn’t work out. He started to say more words. I am yet to get him accessed because I cannot afford to do it privately, and I am placed on a long waiting list at a facility that do so. I got him in a private school and he was responding
... but the school closed after a while,” she said.
McDonald, who resides in Mandeville, Manchester, said homeschooling Joel is extremely challenging, “worse when yuh don’t understand the situation”.
“I have to go on YouTube and watch videos about autism. At a point in time, I was not able to work because I had to stay home with him. I left him with someone before and they beat him; and because he is not verbal, he couldn’t fully explained what happened to me,” McDonald said.
“I sent him to a regular basic school and he did not function like the rest of children, but the teachers there worked with him. He was a handful, and the only word he said was ‘Mommy’. When he left basic school, I was having challenges with him, and to be honest, I was saying that he was rude and no one could manage him.”