(Canada) Manitoba: First Nation seeing "higher incidence of students coming in with complex needs"
At least 40 more needed; leaders of First Nation in Manitoba's Interlake say it has been underfunded by Ottawa
A smile brightens Haylee Garson's face while she watches 21-month-old Cayson roll over a mountain of pillows inside a daycare — playtime the mom wasn't always sure would be part of her son's early childhood.
"When he was born … doctors said he's not going to lift his head, he's not going to walk, he's not going to talk," Garson said. "You see him now — he's just busy moving around."
The boy has Mosaic Down syndrome, a rare condition that delays a child's development, affecting motor and speech skills.
Just shy of his second birthday, Cayson is now able to wiggle his torso around the floor and grip books to flip through pages, after working with physical and occupational therapists.
"He's going to need those, or that extra educational assistant support, to continue striving," Garson said.
But Fisher River Cree Nation, where Cayson goes to daycare, is grappling with a shortage of educational assistants that leaders say comes after years of federal underfunding, and a time when more children with special needs are enrolled in the school system. . . .
As of the start of this school year, there were at least 76 students out of the 525 in Fisher River's elementary and high schools — about 14 per cent of the student population — who need one-on-one support in the classroom, says Nora Murdock, director of the First Nation's board of education said.
"[There's] a higher incidence of students coming in with complex needs," she said, such as autism, ADHD and other diagnoses.
"Speech and language, for example, is huge," said Murdock. . . .
Not all students who need an EA have one, and at least four are not attending school because the individual support is not available, she said.
Nora Murdock of Fisher River's board of education says the community doesn't have enough EAs for the 76 students who need one-on-one support. . . .
The problem has intensified as "a lot more children are coming in with complex learning needs," she said.
"We need to be able to provide the services they need." . . .
Some children are non-verbal and might hit to express themselves, she said.
"You just make sure they're all safe at that point because there's nothing else you can do, really." . . .
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