B.C. school shorting autistic son, mother says
The Autism News | English
The mother of an autistic boy in Chilliwack, B.C., says only part of the special education funding allocated to her son is being used to help him at school.
“”He’s not getting the support he needs,” said Crystal Gerrits, whose six-year-old son, Cooper, is in Grade 1.
Cooper gets three hours, half his school day, with a special education assistant.
But psychiatrists have told her he needs help full time, said Gerrits.
“When [the assistant] is not in the classroom, you could see him chewing his nails to the point that his fingers were bleeding,” she said. “We’d see him zoning out in terms of his body language. We’d see him flop on the floor and refuse to do what he was asked to do the anxiety just became extreme.”
Gerrits said the district gets $36,000 from two government ministries to help treat Cooper’s autism, but it’s not all going to support him.
“Even though Cooper brings a certain amount of dollars to the district, they’ve told us straight out those are not there to support him.”
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