Just a question, and I know all kids are different, and all school systems are different too, but what level of support does your child require at school? I'm asking because in the next year or so we need to make a decision about what school to send Mia to, and alot of it will be based on what level of support she requires. How did you work this out yourselves? What sort of testing was done?

At the moment my 3 boys are going to a private school run by our church (they have a large number of schools here in Australia) but they have a very limited budget when it comes to anything, let alone supporting a child with special needs. It's been suggested to us that they may recieve approx $3000 in extra funding for Mia, which if you look at the cost of a teachers aide (at $20 an hour) that's not alot of hours, maybe 6 a week for the year. Am I being totally unrealistic thinking that she may cope with a regular class (probably about 20 kids) and little one on one time? At the moment she's 3 and will start pre-K in July, just one morning a week. She is very physically able and is communicating with signs and a few words, and we know that she understands 90% of what we say to her.

Hope to hear some about what your kids are doing at school.

When my son turned 3 he made the transition from having the therapists come to our house, to going to Pre K in a regular elementary school that just happens to have a special needs Pre K. His class consists of 9 boys and 1 girl and they are wonderful. I couldn't have picked a better teacher if I had done it myself. He also has an OT, PT and ST that come in once a week. He goes to school every day from 9:00 till 11:30, and the bus picks him up and takes him. They are also consistently putting him on the potty, which is why he is so advanced, almost 90% trained already and he just turned 4 last Friday. When he turns 5 he will join the regular kindergarten class upstairs and, once a week, the ST, PT and OT will take him out of class and work with him. He has come a LONG way since starting Pre K and it has been nothing but wonderful. Vonda

Our situation is nearly identical to Vonda's. We're lucky enough that the program exists at the same school Sam goes to, three doors away.

Hi Kelly,

I know a lot of kids with Down syndrome in mainstream schools in Australia; it's becoming more and more common, whatever the level of support the child needs.

Legally, you have the right to send your child to any school you like. In terms of getting funding, (in NSW - I don't know about other states), you will get a lot more support in a public school than in the private system, because the private schools only get commonwealth funding and the public ones get state funding as well. However, the school still doesn't get that much - only a few children get full time aide support. Some private schools will fund extra hours out of their own pockets, you just have to look around and see.

There was some good research in the UK which showed kids with Down syndrome had better academic and social outcomes in mainstream schools than in segregated schools. But at the end of the day, it's up to you to see what you'd like. It can be a lot of work helping your child transition to a mainstream school!

I think though, even if your child is in mainstream, it's important that they keep in contact with their friends with Down syndrome - most young adults I know have as their best friends other young adults with Down syndrome whom they know through clubs etc. I guess we all find it good to have friends who "know what it's like" etc etc.

Hope this helps!
Carly

Thanks for your repies! Carly, I'm in rural SA, and don't imagine the funding system is too much different to NSW. How long have you been a teachers aide? Do you currently assist any kids with DS? Feel free to pm me if you like.

I guess I've just started gathering information towards making a decision about Mia's schooling, and so far, yes it does look like she will be better served in the local state school. It's just a bit heartbreaking for me in that my 3 boys have all gone to our church school and already at 3 years old, Mia is known to all the children there. She disappears into the care of a number of upper primary aged girls pretty much the moment we arrive! It's also a smaller school than the state school, around 100 students R-7 rather than close to 300. Added to all this is that in our small town is another family with a child with DS who is only a year younger than Mia. They currently have their eldest child at my kids school, but he will graduate before the little one starts. So they are looking to see what we do to help them make their decision! Which is fair enough really, and possibly we may be able to make a go of it at our little school with the combined resources of 2 children rather than one. Those are all the pros for sending her to the private school.

The cons are that the state school already has a child with DS in upper grades who has had all his schooling there. It too is a good school, and some of our church members teach there, so I know Mia would be well looked after. They do get better funding, and already have the infrastructure in place (eg a fenced junior play area) that the other school doesn't. I just don't know if I can send her to a school that her brothers don't attend, and don't think it's really fair to swap them all over in order for them to be together.

So there you go. This has gotten rather long now, but it concerns me and I really hate having to make these sorts of decisions!! I'm mostly hoping that we move in the next year or 2 before she starts school so we can work thru this in our next communtiy and hopefully find a school that will meet everyone's needs!

Hi Kelly
I'm in rural NSW and my boys are not at school yet but many of the questions you have asked, i have been contemplating too.

After talking with some friends who have a boy with special needs I believe that continuity will be an important consideration for us when choosing a school. You mentioned that the kids at your boys' school already know Mia and that would make a lovely environment for her and having possibly another child with DS joining the school would help the school from a funding perspective etc.

We are wanting to send Jackson and Clayton to the local Catholic school but to the best of my knowledge they don't have much experience with children with special needs. Like you I don't want the boys to be separated but I want both to get the best education for their needs. Unfortunately there is not a great deal of choice in small towns. Its a difficult decision.

Have you spoken with the DS association in SA?? Maybe they can help you navigate the SA system, especially in terms of how funding etc works.

Let us know how you get on
Leanne

Hi Kelly,

I think Leanne's reply made perfect sense. If the school has a great attitude and loves your daughter, that's 95% of the problems overcome, I think.

I'm actually a special educator and not a mum, (sorry), and I've worked in high school, primary school, and now Early Childhood Intervention (the best area ) and I really feel that with a bit of preparation a child with Down syndrome can do just fine in any school that welcomes them and values them.

BTW, feel free to email me at [email protected]

Carly

Hello again! You are so right, Leanne and Carly, and that is what makes me want to give my school a go. At the moment, Mia appears to be a quick learner. She is beyond everyone's expectations of where she might be at this age, though I realize that this doesn't mean this will always be so -- life is full of peaks and troughs, as is our learning. This is coupled with the knowledge that with my husbands work, we will not live here for more than 2-3 more years at the very most. The R/1 teacher at the school was a mature age graduate,and he's been a great teacher for 2 of my boys. He has just built a house in town, a good indication that he's here for a while. This gives me alot of confidence, as he is a known quantity. I visit the DS Assoc in Adelaide a few times a year, and have begun talking to them about my situation. Their advice was that even though schools can't discriminate, it can be fairly obvious to see which is best equipped to meet your childs needs, and this is often in the state system. I think that it's alot easier for private schools in the city to accomodate special needs, as they have the ability to "cluster" students, thereby maximising the funding available. 10 students each bringing $3000 into a school pretty much equals a full time aide to be shared between them. The Lutheran system (which we are a part of) has had kids with DS in the past and I have also heard of a child in Qld going to a Catholic school, and surely there are others in such a big system. So my next step will be to try and get in contact with other parents whose kids have gone to Lutheran schools to broaden my perspectives.

Leanne, I got a good paper from my DS assoc on what questions to ask of a principal at a school you are considering sending your child to. They are mostly commonsense, but gave me a good starting point when discussing this with our current principal. If you would like a copy of this, just let me know and I will post it up.

These are really long posts, but it typing them out and getting your feedback has really helped me alot!

And a special thank-you to you, too Carly, for being part of this conversation and of the wider group that we are! It is so good to get the picture from another angle.

If all us Aussies could just come up with an obscure aboriginal ancester all our school funding would triple!