Rural town school needs a dedicated high school for ASD kids.
I have a situation that i fear is NOT unique. My three stepsons live in a rural town in New South Wales.
Currently ASD diagnosied children in the community are not getting educational assistance in their high school years there as there is no dedicated school for them to attend.
What has happened:
Autistic kids who try to attend the HS aren't gettting aides and so they are stressing out, having meltdowns,and they can't finish work because they get no help. Then they fail the courses. The school can't cope and refuses to have them.
The current options are: 1) Home schooling distance education or 2) A few kids go to a school that is 40 minutes drive on a bus where they can get aides and other types of appropriate assistance
The parents want a speicial HS for the 15 plus children who cutrrently can not attend the regular HS.
To this end they have created this petition to help their problem and the problem forfamilies in rural towns:
High Schools specifically for kids diagnosed with Aspergers and High Functioning Autism
http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/35002/sign.html#se
It says: "We the undersigned call on the Australian Government to look at creating small High Schools in each State and Territory for kids diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and High Functioning Autism."
Currently it has 241 signatures. Would you help us by signing this and passing it on especially to the parents of children in rural communities?
Anyone who has any other ideas we would be thrilled to hear from you.
One problem we have had is that while one of the boys can do and LOVES the shop class so long as he can wear ear things to keep the noise level down, the other kids tease him. Right now i think if i lived there i would go to school with him and stand guard to prevent the verbal bullying. If i did they would probably just corner him off campus sometime and beat him up. So bullying will be a problem in many schools. Special school have their share of bulling but its a more level playing field.
With the changes in school requirements, the kids who excel at something can't be taking University or TAFE level classes until they are 18 now. Parents are forced to home-school. There are enough ASD kids in this community to make a class up. How can we get people to back us up so we can get the attention of the people who make policy??
@newinoz, are you on the Australian AspergersAutism list? I really think you should post this over there. I know that several families are having the same sort of problem with finding a good high school education situation for their children.
In the meantime, I wonder if these parents have thought about doing a homeschooling co-op? One parent on the list mentioned something called Open Access.. are you familiar with that at all?
I've lived in regional Oz for the past 6 years and I know how it goes. The biggest problem is not so much getting government funding, but enticing teachers/support staff to come to your area. We have specialists that come up maybe a few times a year, and it's expensive. Good luck with it all!
Hi Outoutout,
I notice open acess is a SA group/
I did join the Australian AspergersAutism
I am hoping there will be some help there.
Jude is so good she may be part of the group for all i know. She spends her time either dealing with the boys or dealing with finding more resources for the boys. Its amazing she has any self left And yet she helps me also.
I have to ask what is the meaning of your moniker?? Or is it something you wish to reamain private?
Mine is pretty easy. I am both new( or recent) in oz and my initials are new.
Thanks for the help. It is truly appreciated
Nora
Ah, I didn't realise Open Access was an SA-only thing. I wonder if they'll take students from other areas of Oz? Or maybe there's something similar for NSW. It'd be worth looking into.
How long have you lived in Oz? For some reason you seem familiar...were you ever on any Yahoo groups for Americans in Oz? Talking about travelling around Australia in search of exotic plants? I used to be active on those expat-type groups, but have since left.
My screen name has a few meanings. I'm 'out-out-out' in every sense of the word, about...well, everything. It's also something I used to say to the kids when I find them in places they shouldn't be. "Out! Out! Out!" 
I was i in couple americans in australia groups. I think i still technically am. It gets boring talking about food i can't have. <sigh> Its amazing how important the stomache and the tongue seem to be.
I am interested in horticulture. My assosicates is in ornamental hort.
Jude is doing some sort of distance learning with the boys now. It would be great if they could do one or two egular classes. They are brilliant boys. Hard to get them up to scratch for Uni at home. Plus the oppeortunities to stretch socially aren't going to walk in the door.
Tired tonight so i'll let it go
Thanks for helping us,
Nora
Hi
Slightly of topic, but I agree we need better programs and facilities for ASD individuals throughout the school system. I don't think the city schools are up to standard either.
Post-diagnosis I realised that the highschool I went to actually set itself up for a situation where high functioning ASD kids would be completely "missed". This particular school runs a program for academically gifted students (they are segregated off in their own classes and do quite high level academics). The only problem is, there is no-one looking at how the kids in these classes interact socially etc. I went through this particular program for over 3 years. I have Asperger's and an IQ of >180. My cohort was a class consisting of 14 students. From all of my memories of the other 13 kids I can DEFINATLEY identify at least 3 more with Asperger's (and they were more obvious than me - all quite different to each other too!).
Needless to say, I called my old school and asked to speak to whoever had taken over coordinating this program. I briefly introduced myself and my history at the school then explained that I had been diagnosed with Asperger's and that I believed their program created a high risk situation for failing to identify ASD students and asked if they had anything in place. The coordinator advised me they would have an inservice on Autism Spectrum Disorders soon as a parent had raised this same concern (their child entered the program with a known ASD and therefore this parent was already alert to what might be happening).
These kids might not need aides to get through their academics, but they definately need assistance with their social skill development.
Arlene