Special-needs kids' biggest problem is cuts in funding

The Vancouver Province - Letter to the Editor

Dawn Steele

April 19, 2011

Is it "beat up on special-needs kids" week at The Province?

Teacher Jill Ewart applauds "brave" colleagues who rejected a six-year-old with autism as too dangerous to teach. And then columnist Mike Smyth announces B.C. has "a special-needs problem" because these kids consume teachers' time, "taking away from other children who need help."

Actually, kids with special needs have a B.C. government problem and a teacher problem. Provincial policies have cut 25 per cent of Vancouver's special-education teachers since 2001, despite a 33-per-cent increase in specialneeds students -a B.C.-wide pattern. Without training or support, teachers like Ewart are failing 20 per cent of their students.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Special+needs+kids+biggest+problem+cuts+funding/4639387/story.html#ixzz1K1JyShYD