Wednesday, September 28, 2005

SLD but still no help.....So where does it start??

Got Mr 5's SP report yesterday, short of boring all and sundry with the techno terms; it boils down to the fact that he has a Severe Language Disorder (SLD) but as his Clinical Evaluation Of Language fundamentals-Preschool (CELP-P) test shows his receptive language to be 69, expressive language to be 69 with a total language score of 67, the mean being 100 and a standard deviation being 15..He still would not qualify for help in the Govt system as his score needs to be 55. This is despite him being "delayed in articulation skills as he can be unintelligible and the word and phrase level" and that "these factors will have a significant impact on his learning and language skills".

Yes, I know I have beaten this dead horse so much, but the fact that there are so many kids out there with similar issues; they have a problem which does not fall into a clear cut category in the world of DET but the refusal to acknowledge that these condition/s will ultimately affect a child's learning abilities seems to be lost on the Minister and her cronies. Given that parents can fight and fight but soon wear out, leaving their child to struggle in a supposed learning environment without PSG's(Program Support Group) or even an IEP(individual education program) without the therapies promised or even any at all...Where is the responsability to the child? Where does a educational facilities role as an educator cease to be feasible because of the child's condition/s? Who makes such a call and who declared them God? State schools only obligation is to get the child to Grade 2 level of reading/comprehension, I know parents who have questioned the help their children are/are not receiving to be told this by principals. Where do teachers obligations now lie? With keeping to budget and not making it too hard for themselves? Or are there still the unjaded ones who are in it for the "right" reasons and genuinely care enough to help, support and encourage??
I can fight, I can fight for my child FOREVER for what he needs, but what he and all kids who fall in the "cracks" of the system really need is a voice, lots of them, loud angry ones full of upset, soft spoken voices of reason, voices who speak through the power of the pen, negotiator with a clear mind, advocates who can speak objectively, everyone has some of these attributes and more for a child; be it their own or another.
People need to not accept the restrictions placed on support services supplied to their children based on the Government policy (and I am speaking of whatever Govt..Not inasmuch a political party) Ministers need to be "EDUCATED" in what their decisions mean to the children at the coal face and what it means to the teachers of these children. Until we do, our children will remain without a voice, will have lost the opportunity to be the future and have had the right to forfil their own potential taken from them.

2 comments:

I am the Queen of EVERYTHNG...OK!! said...

Who knows? Actaully who cares?? But I thought his SOL comment about "... there are a number of concerned people working in the field that contact me ..."
was interesting.

supermom_in_ny said...

I don't mean to upset you or pry, but what can you do now? Is there an alternative to be able to get services? It is soo unfair that these human issues become so political. It always boils down to dollars and cents. I wonder if there is any politicain that has a family member that is disabled that you may be able to reach and may be even unite some families to make your needs known? Usually, their attitude is alot different went it effects their home...