Disabled in schools benefiting everyone

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 16

Disabled in schools benefiting everyone

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by

MAVIS AIREY

There is no special school for disabled children in Christchurch any more. But the lack causes no shame to Michael Parsons, the inspector of special education at the Education Board. On the contrary, he is delighted. “We believe that, wherever we can, handicapped children should be part of the mainstream of education. The real question is not whether to do it, but how to do it,” he maintains.

For the last two years Hammersley Park School has had a section for the disabled in which children can attend classes either with specialist teachers or in the ordinary school, according to their individual needs. They may then go on to the special unit at Mairehau High School.

Other disabled children are able to attend their local schools if suitable provision can be made for them. The Board has specialist advisers available to help, and they can use the Hammersley Park unit as a resource when they need it. “There is no way in which we could duplicate Hammersley Park’s resources in 20 different schools,” Michael Parsons admits.

Similarly, there is no special school for visually handicapped children, but

their specialist teachers are based at the Elmwood Visual Centre, which is part of Elmwood School. Even where special schools exist, opportunities for mainstreaming are being exploited in various ways. Van Asch College runs an integration programme with standard one and form one pupils from Sumner School. Sumner also has a deaf unit, as does Linwood High School, and some hearing-impaired students are able to attend ordinary schools.

A satellite class for intellectually handicapped children is running at Briggston School and Michael Parsons hopes there will be more in the future. He also encourages the policy of Ferndale and Allanvale — the special schools for intellectually handicapped children — to invite children from other schools to interact with them. Papanui High School has an informal arrangement with Allanvale whereaby secondary-aged educationally retarded pupils go to Papanui one day a week and sixth formers work individually with them. The schools also link up for the physical education programme.

"The ‘handicapped’ label is a real problem,” Michael Parsons acknowledges. “It tends to sug-

gest the child will pose difficulties. The real question is, what are the child’s needs? We have to be careful we don’t minimise what they can do by making assumptions. “Physical disability need not stop students performing well intellectually. We need to encourage rather than discourage. Not so many years ago it was said that you cannot teach intellectually handicapped children to read. In fact, quite a large proportion are now learning to read.” Having students with disabilities in schools is a great learning experience for both teachers and students, believes David Matthews, the relieving inspector of special education at the Education Department.

“Teachers may find it hard going having a handicapped child in the class, but they still believe it is of great value. Of course, you have to select a class that would be supportive,” he adds. He well remembers a profoundly deaf boy who attended Burnside High School when he was there. “His social interaction increased dramatically over time.

“It depends on the severity of the disability,” he acknowledges. “It is important to come up

with a programme that is not too demanding on anyone. We have to look at each case on its merits, see what outside support is needed in the way of teachers’ aids and special facilities, and see what can be done.”

Special education provisions also extend to lesser handicaps. The board provides psychological and guidance services for children with behaviour problems, speech therapists, and special resources for educationally retarded children who are not achieving well at school. Burnside, Mairehau, Aranui and Hagley High Schools all have work experience units for slow learners who have special needs.

Special schools are a big-city concept, and Michael Parsons does not see any more being built. “The first school for the deaf was set up in Sumner in the 1880 s. I suppose we were just bringing ideas into a new country from the country we came from. But the problem in New Zealand is our very thinly spread population. If you live in a country town with a handicapped child it is very difficult to provide all the resources one might like. It seems a simple alternative to take the children to a special school, but boarding is an

unattractive system, particularly for very young children,” he believes.

“Ten per cent of the population is handicapped,” he points out “The chances are you are going to meet one, or have a child who is one. If you have never been involved with one before, it can be traumatic; if you have, it can be very positive.

“Everyone benefits

from mainstreaming,” says Michael Parsons. “The handicapped encourage everyone who interacts with them to develop the ability to think of other people’s needs. If we don’t learn that, we are less effective human beings. More than that, I believe they can enrich the environment.”

His proof is a sheaf of thankyou letters from

pupils. One reads: "On behalf of the Hammersley Park School children who went on the camp, I would like to thank you for letting us go. But if we didn’t take the disabled it wouldn’t have been any fun because when we went to the beach we had a lot of fun pulling the sledges and pushing the wheelchairs. Thank you for letting us go.”