Learning hurdles: Mum fights for funds
Eight-year-old Nicholas Maynard has a quick-thinking brain but struggles to get his words out.
He talks using his iPad. When he touches the symbols on his screen, they speak for him.
‘‘I can do it’’ is a phrase he types a lot, laughs his mother, Liz.
Nicholas, who has Down syndrome and dysbraxia, is helped by a specialist teacher at Christchurch’s St Albans School.
She works hours hours a day, five days a week with Nicholas, but funding from the Ministry of Education’s ongoing resourcing scheme (ORS) covers just 15 hours. The school funds the rest. Information released under the Official Information Act showed the Ministry of Education received over 1600 applications for ORS funding last year. For every 10 pupils, at least three were declined.
The Ministry estimates 1 per cent of students in New Zealand schools are eligible for the fund.
A speech language therapist and occupational therapist visit Nicholas once a term, but his mother says it’s not enough.
‘‘We’re having to fund private speech language therapy at $75 for 30 minutes.’’
She claims Nicholas would not be the happy, bubbly boy he is now if she had to rely solely on support from the Ministry of Education.
‘‘Fifteen hours doesn’t go very far when you’ve got a five-day week.’’
Maynard is protesting plans to focus special education funding at an early-childhood level and potentially quash funding for those aged 18 to 21.
The proposal would pump most special-needs money into 2 to 5-year-olds and a big drop in funding would kick in for over 7.
She is helping organise a rally against the changes, and while no date had been set, she expects it to take place in the coming weeks.
Ministry head of special education David Wales said the funding change would make it easier for parents to navigate the special education system. In some cases it was taking ‘‘too long to help children to get the help they need’’.
‘‘We do expect in the longer term we will see the benefits of early intervention for many children, and as a result some will need less support when they are older.’’
He said children who needed learning support would continue to get it throughout their time at school.
‘‘It’s not happening now, so how can they ensure it’s going to happen in the future,’’ Maynard said. ‘‘There are a lot of families who are struggling.’’
The idea of reviewing funding for all students transitioning out of school was ‘‘ridiculous’’, she said.
‘‘I know an 18-year-old whose development needs are that of a 12-year-old.’’
Education Minister Hekia Parata said in a Cabinet paper the intention was to determine whether there were ‘‘better ways of helping these students transition out of school’’.