Discussions

I am curious as to how many other parents are having a hard time getting EA support for their kids. It seems like the ones who really need it, like my daughter, are not getting it. I'm not looking to get into a huge debate about it, I just want to know how many other stressed out parents there are out there, like myself.

It seems every school in the division operates differently when it comes to this. I have a child who has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum. My child was approved for "level 3" funding and had an an EA assigned to him since kindergarten that would be with him all day long at the one school he went too. This past year, they scaled back how much he got one for he though his level of funding never changed. Sadly because of that I actually noticed a huge decline in his progress he was making.  
 
Now that he is at a new school, he doesn't get his own EA. This new school he is at goes by what is needed with in the class and applies for funding for the classroom as a whole. So instead of the kids who really need the one on one, the EA is there for any student to use which doesn't seem fair. I have never gone to the actual school board to inquire about why that is, but it seems a bit unfair that the kids who really need it, may not get the help they need because the EA is helping kids who don't actually need it.

I have also noticed in general, unless you can afford to go private to get help for your children, there really are limited resources in Brandon for help.  
 
My child was diagnosed before he started school but was at an age where he was apparently "too old" to receive OT/BT and the people who run those programs could only deal with the school on a consultation type basis.

You are not alone. It is a nightmare. We also have a child on the autism spectrum, that has needed full time funding since she started school, but has never been given what she needs. She has shared funding with other children, had no funding at all, etc. There have also been year where there just happens to be enough E.A.'s in her classroom, so she ended up with lots of support, even though she did not have the full time funding. Those years were incredible for her. You could see how well she was doing with the extra support. Doesn't seem to matter to the school division of the government though. They don't want to spend the money to give these kids a fair chance at education. The mentality really sucks, and as a parent to watch that, it is quite stressful. We know what our daughter is capable of with support, but a majority of the time we see her struggle, because she does not get that support that she really needs. If the money and time is put in to these kids when they are young it will cost far less than when they reach adulthood and are a drain on the system because they have no skills and can't function independently.

In my day they had special classes for children needing extra support. Mainstreaming them as we do now was a big debate as it could be diruptive but seems less disruptive to the class in general now.  
 
Funding for a few in the class or to be share amongst all. some who many never have been diagnosed. Tough choice. I Would almost let the teacher decide after week one. She or he should have the final call once she gets a read of the kids. I believe in mainstreaming but as far as ea's I believe all hands on deck when it comes a class room. Extra attention where needed. Report cards are great for that. So is parent feed back.

Doug said "In my day they had special classes for children needing extra support. Mainstreaming them as we do now was a big debate as it could be diruptive but seems less disruptive to the class in general now.     Funding for a few in the class or to be share amongst all. some who many never have been diagnosed. Tough choice. I Would almost let the teacher decide after week one. She or he should have the final call once she gets a read of the kids. I believe in mainstreaming but as far as ea's I believe all hands on deck when it comes a class room. Extra attention where needed. Report cards are great for that. So is parent feed back. "

Unfortunately that is not the way the system works. You can't expect to send a child to school and be independent until the teacher decides a week later if that child will need EA support or not. What if the child is non-verbal, or is a wanderer. Plans have to be in place for these kids before they enter school on the first day.  
Unfortunately unless they are extremely severe, it is next to impossible to get a good level of support.  
My daughter did enter kindergarten with no funding, even though she is at high risk for getting distracted and wandering off. There were 2 kids her year like this. Neither of them got funding, and both of them had to wander off the school yard several times, or be reported as missing to the parents (later to be found wandering around inside the school) before either of them were considered for funding. My daughter ended up being granted part time funding, but by the time she got to grade 4, she had lost it all again, and we don't know if we will ever be able to get it back. High school isn't too far off, and we are definitely worried. This other little boy had the same thing happen as well. I would say that neither of them are doing very well at this point. There was another little guy who was granted full time funding in kindergarten that year, mainly because he had more behaviour issues I'm guessing. He had that full time funding until he was in grade 3, and now is doing absolutely awesome. The time was put in to him while he was still very young and it payed off.  
We heard the words "fostering independence" a lot before entering kindergarten. I still would like to slap anyone who says that to me. You can't just expect these kids to learn independence like a typical child. They need to be taught how to be independent.

Doug said "In my day they had special classes for children needing extra support. Mainstreaming them as we do now was a big debate as it could be diruptive but seems less disruptive to the class in general now.     Funding for a few in the class or to be share amongst all. some who many never have been diagnosed. Tough choice. I Would almost let the teacher decide after week one. She or he should have the final call once she gets a read of the kids. I believe in mainstreaming but as far as ea's I believe all hands on deck when it comes a class room. Extra attention where needed. Report cards are great for that. So is parent feed back. "

The only grade they are currently forced to be mainstreamed in the BSD is kindergarten (which is optional anyway).  
 
My daughter is in Lifeskills, which is essentially a "special ed" class. I support mainstreaming whenever it's possible, but it's not beneficial for some kids (like my daughter). She's thriving in the Lifeskills class, but you have to fight tooth and nail to get your kid into it. The school division seems to actively discourage parents from pursuing it and it doesn't seem to be presented as an option most of the time, from what I've observed. My daughter's kindergarten teacher suggested it would be a good fit for her, but she wasn't allowed to recommend it officially. I had to request it. I've had several parents ask me over the years how to get their kid into the program. My answer is usually, "make a big stink about it."  
 
To circle back to the OP about EA support, it really depends on how the applications are filled out sometimes. As far as I know, we still have level 3 for our daughter (which we've had since day one), but the application always really stresses her medical needs and her flight risk. Were you involved in the application process? You should be able to request a copy to see what the teacher submitted.  
 
Also, the amount of funding available seems to be at the whim of the government with no set, stable policy. One year, apparently no one in the province got level 3 unless they had complex medical needs, even if they historically got level 3 for other reasons. Sometimes the province won't fund at level 3, but the school division will, making up the shortfall, etc.  
 
It's very frustrating when the extra help you child needs isn't there when you need it. With limited funds to go around, it does need to be ranked from the most needs to less needs, but unfortunately it means that the kids at the bottom of the heap don't get the resources they could really benefit from.

You're right, it seems that the only kids getting the EA support are the ones with the behaviour issues. My daughter doesn't have a behavioural issue, she is actually very introverted at school. She has ADHD, but is somewhat contained at school, and she also has a global developmental delay, which means she is behind socially, academically, and in her maturity level. I've contacted the superintendent directly, and even though all the forms have been submitted, she has regressed on her IEP, and we fought to hold her back a year, we were still denied an EA for her. I don't know what else to do for her, besides hiring an outside tutor, which is an expense we really don't need right now.