4- North Shore News — Sunday, July 16, 2000 Parents in ¢ lass said io be ‘disruptive’ Fram page 1 communication with Adam: Since Adam has difficulties learning by hearing words, he relied heavily on visual prompts. Pugh said many of Adam's outbursts are spurred by the frustration he fecis at not being able to understand or communicate effectively, As a result, Adam’s parents conceived of and created a “visual schedule” tor Adam — a felt book with hundreds of tiny, velcro-backed — picture squares, cach depicting a differ- ent food, activity, person or tecling. For example, if the family wanted to go to Lonsdale Quay for pizza and ice cream one afternoon, ‘Karim or Deborah would affix the square with a picture of the »con Quay sign on the felt page, fol- lowed by a square with a slice of pizza, another with a cone of ice cream and a final square of Adam's house. They then point to the appropriate picture as they say the word. “It looks simple, but for a kid like Adam this is as critical ~ as braille for a blind child or ~ sign language for a deaf child,” " said Elsharkawi. . 2. Pugh claims one of the fac- ‘tors that aided Adam’s decline in the classroom was the exclu- sion of this vital tool from his ~- individual curriculum, despite “the fact that she had given a . topy of the visual schedule to “the SEA to use in class and its _ importance ‘ss a viral teaching tool was clearly oudined in Adam's Individual Educational Prefile (IEP) that was complet- ed in September.! The IEP is based on infor-... " £ mation from family and educa- tors, and outlines each special “needs ‘student’s. strengths and . weaknesses and how best. to: . help them develop academical- *~ ly and adapr to the classroom “< environment. IEPs are com- pleted on every special needs - Student: in. the district at the start of the school year... - “Adam ; got to the ‘point * where he was in such a terrible | State that I realized nobody had used his visual communication schedule,” said Pugh, “He had no idea of what was expected of him. This is a kid who doesn’ t ‘process language.”.' Pugh wonders why Adam’s 's SEA: ignored her: requests .to - incorporate the-visual schedule into Adam’s curriculum. «|<. - ‘Adan “also has’ difficulty understanding the concept of time.. When he -was - younger, mS Pugh ‘would use colourful ¢ -timers:.to help illustrate the “duration “of -a- given event or. ‘Ovi include the timers as an integral part: of “ Adam’s - education. + Again, she said, her advice was “ignored. . ot 'Adam’s - outbursts. in * class : ‘also led to staff having to phys- “Yeally restrain him and send him toa: “time-out” ‘room. else- - where: in’ the ‘school, which . “. angered Elsharkawi and Pugh. - - > If the: staff had used the “visual. schedule, said . Pugh, physical restraint would likely “have been unnecessary. “For the school to be phys- ically. restraining him is evi-- wdence “that: they. were. ‘not adopting any of ‘the standard proactive approaches to dealing with kids like this,” she said. “We're not. pretending - that s.Adam isa Piece of cake to deal , "Se asked. the SEA: to - with, but he’s no problem whatsoever if you know how to communicate with him or you have the proper training.” In response to her son's aggressive behaviour, Pugh asked that a consultant with the Provincial, Resource Program for Autism) and — Related Disorders be brought into the school to observe Adam. The consultant’s report confirmed Pugh’s fears: The SEA didn’t appear to be consis tently following the guidelines set out in Adam's IED “The overlap — between what's in the report and what's in his TEP are on par, which indicated to me that what was set out in the JEP simply wasn’t being done,” said Pugh. Thar prompted Elsharkawi to ask for the school's permis- sion to sit in Adam’s class and observe his behaviour, which he did for four days. “The JEP was not being followed,” he confirmed. On the fourth day of observing Adam, Elsharkawi was asked to icave and not return to the class. “Their way of dealing with the problem is not to fix the problem but’ to remove’ the wimess,” said Elsharkawi. Every parent — with the permission of the schaol — has the sight to observe cheir child in school, however, Killeen said that Elsharkawi was disrupting the flow of the class. “His presence was distract- ing to the normal operations of the class. He was there for four ‘full days, He was given ample time . . . the terms and condi- tions of his being there had expired.” Elsharkawi and Pugh recendy appearcd before the school board ta-demand an apology — for —_Elskirkawi’s removal: Pugh said no response - RUSSELL WILLIAM BROWNLEE. . John Robert Bro has vet been received. “They're not barred ior lite, but to come and sit and take notes on what the teacher's doing every day all day is dis- ruptive,” said Killeen. “Let's say that I sat behind you ali day every day and made notes about what you did. Ac some point you're going to become agitated and it’s going to affect your work.” Pugh said that the school is attempting to shift the blame from Adam to his parents. “Our frustration is that no one thinks there is a responsi- bility to provide these kids with an education. When people don't have the skills, chings start breaking down and you look for scapegoats. Often it’s the parents.” While Adam’s SEA was replaced with a new aide in May, Pugh isn’t sure she should send Adam back to school in the fall for fear the same type of experience will occur again. And because of the recently agreed-tipon provincial collec- uve agreement between CUPE and the province, the district will no longer be able to move SEAs from one school to another, where a specific stu- dent may require their care. The agreement forbids any dayofts of CUPE staff after September 30. A layoff is defined as any change in hours. — not simply a dismissal. “After September, if we want to move somcone fiom one location to another, we can’t. Ha child moves or a new one comes to the district and we have a qualified person at one school, we can’t move them to another.” The board recently laid off all 438 of its special education staff members and is planning, to recall all but 75 when school resumes in the fall. Man’s identity clarified IN ‘Friday's News wanted section, Russell William Brownlee’s photograph i depicted. The photogra was not of jo ed Brownlee as stated. Russell William Brownlee, 25, is charged with obstruct- ing police by using his broth- _er’s name. 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