Teach Effectively!

Multiple sources accross Canada have covered a distressing story: Nearly ½ of parents of students with disabilities say they had problems securing special education for their children and nearly ¼ of the parents of students with disabilities in Canada said the needs of their children were not being met, according to a survey called “Participation and Activity Limitation Survey” (PALS) conducted in 2006. Overall the report shows that children with disabilities are served well, regardless of variations in type of education provided (full inclusion, part-time special education, or full-time special education) and students’ levels of severity.

As in most other developed countries, Canadian schools are required by law to provide “free and appropriate public education.” Apparently, lots of parents don’t think their children are getting it. To be sure, these are perceptions, but parents’ perceptions are powerful influences on schools’ functioning.

In 2006, almost half of parents reported having experienced difficulty in obtaining special education for their child regardless of the type of disability or level of severity. The activity limitations that posed the greatest challenge for accommodation included emotional, behavioural, and psychological conditions such as autism.

The majority of children with disabilities had their educational needs met to some degree. Over half of children were receiving the needed special education and among children in special classes, nearly 90% were using one or more educational aids. Still, some children had unmet needs (17.3%), either for educational aids or, more basically, for special education (24.3%). Over 40% of children whose parents felt that they required special education were not receiving any. Students with this unmet need used educational aids to nearly the same extent as children in special education. Additionally, the majority of these students experienced more severe disabilities and had undergone professional learning assessments.

The PALS survey is conducted by Statistics Canada. In Canada, the term “special education” refers to education modified to accommodate the educational needs of children with a disability.

Among the sources that have reported this story is an article by Lauren La Rose (the Canadian Press) that provides good additional information. See the original report in HTML or PDF by Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada is a federal agency charged with providing statistics about the Canadian population, resources, economy, society and culture for the entire country as well as individual provinces. Details of the general survey methods are available.