High-needs autistic students ‘being kept from school’

T eenagers on the autism spectrum are being pushed out of school or kept at home because some institutions will not enroll them without a paid aide, the Barbados Autism Association has said. But the Ministry of Education Transformation said it was unaware of the cases and has asked the association to provide the names of any students who may be out of school so it can address their situation. The autism association spokesperson Nadia Simmons said the issue was one of the major challenges facing children with autism. “I would say the major challenge is the children with high support needs; they are being displaced,” Simmons said. “I know they’re working on it, but very often when a student is given some challenges, they try to move the students or expel the students and then the ministry has to juggle where they would go.

” She told Barbados TODAY : “There are many, I would say more so, teenagers who are home because, while it is unusual to have children not in school, it seems to be fine for autistic youth because there’s no support or there’s no accommodations for them where they were. ” Simmons said she knew of at least two teenagers who were at home and believed there were more. Some schools would only accept students with an aide, but many parents could not afford to pay another person’s salary, she said. Responding in a telephone interview, Senior Student Support Officer in the Ministry of Education Transformation Kaye Sargeant said she was not aware of the cases Simmons was referring to and urged the association to provide the names. “If she knows of that, let us know, because that certainly is not how we operate. ” Sargeant said the ministry had several initiatives to ensure students on the spectrum remained in school. “There are quite a few initiatives that we…