Report on education for children with special needs

28/8/93

Better communication between teachers, principals and parents is a key aim of recommendations contained in a report to the State Government, relating to the education of children with special needs.

Education Minister Norman Moore today received the report from the Ministerial Task Force on the Education of Students with Disabilities and Specific Learning Difficulties, and released it for public comment.

The Education Ministry currently had a total budget, excluding capital works, of nearly $30 million for the education of students with disabilities in special facilities and in regular schools.  On top of this, schools across the State allocated extra resources to help students with specific learning difficulties.

In 1992, a total of 3,416 students with special needs attended education support schools, centres and units, and 1,134 students were supported in regular school settings.

Mr Moore said the 11-member task force, Chaired by Dr Ruth Shean from the Cerebral Palsy Association, made 61 recommendations, and, in six months' work, received submissions from more than 1,000 individuals and organisations.

In addition to Perth meetings, task force members travelled to Bunbury, Narrogin, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Geraldton and Albany to receive input from concerned people.

Dr Shean said a key recommendation of the report was that students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties be integrated into regular classrooms wherever possible, and that segregation only be considered where integration was not feasible for any particular situation.

Other recommendations included:

·         greater involvement of pre-primary education in identifying problems;

·         increased follow up of individual students displaying educational problems;

·         individual plans for students, to travel with them through to high school and when they change schools;

·         more comprehensive reporting to parents by teachers with concerns about individual children;

·         better communication between schools, families and other professionals, including specialist agencies, in both the planning and provision of services.

Mr Moore congratulated the task force on the thoroughness and quality of their work.

A reference group, consisting of representatives from special interest groups, the non-Government education sector, the tertiary system, and the Education Ministry, would be established to examine the report's recommendations and advise on their implementation.

Media contact: Ross Storey 321 1444/222 9595