Child with Disability | Downs With Ups

Oct 17, 2014 -

Child with Disability, Down Syndrome, Education, Intellectual Disability, Learning, Schools, Special Needs

A Lightbulb Moment

I recently had one of those lightbulb moments when clarity leads to a sense of equanimity. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why choosing a secondary school has been such a difficult process for me is that I’ve been wanting secondary school to meet all of Poppet’s needs. This simply isn’t able to happen.

To help me get my head around this, I’ve needed to prioritise what I believe Poppet is going to need, then try to match this to the most suitable educational setting. I’ve actually written it all out so you can see my thinking too.

(As far as I’ve been able, I’ve tried to remain objective and keep emotions out of this; this was difficult, for my emotional priority for Poppet is to have some friends with whom she can ‘hang’, with whom she can go to the shops or movies, with whom she can laugh and who will invite her to parties.)

Need	Priority Ranking
Grow a social network with peers.	8
Develop confidence in her own ability.	2
Grow her self-esteem.	1
Develop skills that will help her gain meaningful employment.	5
Obtain VCAL qualifications to help her secure meaningful employment.	6
Find a best friend and friends.	9
Learn leadership skills.	10
Learn basic life skills such as telling the time and handling money.	4
Be involved and included.	7
Learn to be self-sufficient.	3

You could argue that some of these are interdependent. For example, Poppet may not develop her self-esteem if she is not involved or included. However, there are other places, outside of the school setting that can help her achieve this.

As far as meeting these needs, each school option offers different pros and cons. To help with the decision, I’ve listed how I see some of the factors of each in the following tables.

Mainstream
Pros	Cons
She’ll start at Year 7.	She’ll be the follower again.
She’ll achieve VCAL qualifications.	She’ll stand out from the others.
She will have dedicated aide.	She won’t be able to participate in all activities.
She will be able to go through to Year 12.	Her learning will be dependent on the willingness of teachers to modify curriculum.
Standards of behaviour will be set high for her to achieve.	She may become dependent on the aide.
She’ll graduate with her peers.	There may not be suitable resources for curriculum modification.
	There may not be suitable extra-curricula activities for her.

Special School (SS)
Pros	Cons
She may make friendships, as students will be closer to her abilities.	She’ll be the follower again.
She’ll achieve VCAL qualifications.	There may not be suitable extra-curricula activities for her.
She will be able to go through to Year 12.	The school may assume her learning needs are the same as other students.
Moderate standards of behaviour will be set for her to achieve.	She may not be able to participate in all activities.
She’ll learn life skills.	She’ll start at Year 8.
Curriculum will be modified for her.
The school facilities are excellent.
She’ll graduate with her peers.

Special Development School (SDS)
Pros	Cons
She may make friendships, as students will be closer to her abilities.	She’ll be with others who may have less ability than she has.
She’ll learn life skills.	She may not gain qualifications.
She will be able to go through to Year 12 and graduate with her peers.	Standards of behaviour may be less than her own.
She’ll be a ‘star’, a stand out student.	She may not make friends.
Curriculum will be modified for her.
The school facilities are excellent.
She’ll learn leadership skills and how to help others.

When I look at these tables, it looks like a SS, or an SDS, would be most appropriate, especially when I compare them to the list of priorities.

I guess in the back of my head is the realisation that the school we select initially is not set in stone. If things don’t work out, we can always change schools, even though this would be difficult for Poppet. We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it and at that point, we’ll again need to weigh up which would best meet her needs.