Please help Andrew by supporting Mum to stay onsite at school to help him.

Andrew is 10 years old and went to Stanmore Public School from Kindy to Year 4. He has non-verbal autism and intellectual disability. He is now expelled.

Andrew is sensitive to pain, e.g. stuffy nose, reflux, loose baby tooth, congestion, etc and might exhibit different degrees of problem behaviour (e.g. grabbing hand to rub his temple causing scratches, pulling staff’s shirt when he feels pain, attempting to bite). He has been trained and has many successes in self-regulation with his chew toys and healthy food and calms down in 10-20 minutes (e.g. after sneezing and coughing, he feels better)

Andrew does not exhibit the problem behaviour intentionally as agreed by the staff of the Department of Education. 

“Why now?” I asked.

“Andrew is getting stronger,” the Director Educational Leadership for the Marrickville Principals Network said.

I am writing this petition to ask you to kindly sign this petition to support mum/parents to stay onsite at school to support Andrew to have his needs met, and significantly reduce incidents.

Since last year, staff has been unable to come close to Andrew when he was crying which is counterproductive. I can remove his jumper if he is upset because he is too hot or other concerns. The school in an attempt to address staff safety are implementing strategies that only cause further escalation and greater risk for a child that requires comfort and help to deescalate.

Since Year 4, Andrew had to do everything on his own with limited help.

(1) Andrew was surrounded by 2 rows of desks to separate him from staff, consequently, activities are limited in the classroom for Andrew. It is very hard to pinpoint new words to him on his talker proloquo2go or provide hand-on-hand assistance in learning. When he is less focused, he needs someone to stay closer to him to pinpoint the area where he could find the letter or icons.

(2) Staff sat opposite Andrew, not beside him.

(3) There is no longer the option for Andrew to have hand-on-hand modelling.

(4) Occasionally Andrew might take off his pants when he had very bad abdominal pain. He might not have his pants on for some time. The school called me to go to school to wear the pants for him. He was deemed as not safe to help him pull up his pants or be taken to the toilet. Staff could only support him to wear pants when he was calm.

It is not possible for a level 3 non-verbal autistic child with Intellectual disability to excel without physical prompting. Without hand-on-hand support, he won’t be able to do handwriting and other fine motor skills tasks that need guidance from adults.

 

I am not the first parent who suggested staying onsite at school to support the child. Fortunately, I have found a few examples that other parents are/were allowed to stay onsite at school and have successfully supported their children, from a few months to 2.5 years. This decision is up to individual principals. 

Benefits of Mum supporting Andrew onsite at school 

- Make sure he always wears shoes, especially outdoors, to avoid injury from the debris. One of the behaviour goals during Kindy was for him to wear shoes all the time. Gradually this goal disappears. If I could be at school, I could verbally and physically prompt him to wear the shoes, especially outdoors. I am worried about his bare feet being injured.

- Use my body to block access to picking up dirty food from the floor

- Protect Andrew's safety if the gates are not closed.

- Go to the toilet with him so that staff can avoid staying close to Andrew.

- I could guide him back to the classroom/the toilet quicker if he runs off especially when it rains outside.

- Make sure he always wears his pants in public, or else I could take him to the toilet much quicker.

- Help him take off his jumper if he feels too hot as staff could not help if he is crying. Staff safety is the first priority.

- Apply Eukybear eucalyptus chest rub to help relieve his stuffy nose because staff are not allowed to apply the cream on his body under any circumstances.

- When the weather is hot (above 25 degrees) and he wants to go out for a walk, I could bring him back to the air-conditioned room after a few minutes. In the past, he ran in the heat and had a headache/stuffy nose which led to distress.

- Hand-on-hand with him to take photos of his activities which can be uploaded to the seesaw app. He does not know how to hold the iPad properly to take a photo.

- Hand-on-hand with him to work on academic and life skill activities if needed.

Some countries, e.g. Singapore also allow parents to support their neurodivergent children onsite at school. 

Andrew has been able to achieve some very good learning outcomes in the past few years.

Please support our battle to ensure Andrew can continue his inclusive education journey, has his daily needs met and achieves his best potential.

 

After reading some comments, I would like to clarify that Andrew went to specialised education settings/support classes before he began at Stanmore Public School. It was not working.

Following Andrew’s attendance at Stanmore Public School, Andrew made remarkable progress. 

Andrew had intensive behaviour therapy inside the regular classroom at school for 2 years.

At the end of Kindy, the school employed its first-ever special education teacher to teach and support Andrew and other neurodivergent students in the regular class. Sometimes they were in small groups. All Andrew's class teachers were kind and supportive and worked together with the special education teacher in the same classroom.

The school also employed an additional learning support officer with special education experience. 

After Year 4, due to changes in staff, suspension and behaviour management policy, it was not the inclusive school that Andrew was in.

P.S. Please also let me know if you are one of the parents who stayed onsite (both inside and outside the classroom) or are currently staying onsite at school to support your child. Andrewtingjump@gmail.com