Parents intolerant of disabled children being in their own children's classes.

[greengoose2]

Do any of the points raised in your long, rambling, badly-edited post not also apply to the other OECD countries against whom our educational standards are being measured?

One of the things a self respecting teacher will teach you is that "when trying to climb out of a hole - stop digging".

The posts are neither rambling nor badly edited. In fact you might look up what edited means...

[alloverbartheshouting]

Excellent points especially the one in bold! You also mention in a previous post the involvement of parents and their "expectations"! There are, as well you are aware, many who think their kids are a plane above the *cough* normal. If they feel there's lassitude in their schooling then they may do the extra tuition they deem required themselves or pay for grinds.

My brats were educated abroad and never needed SNs. They just 'got on with it' and with the help of their dedicated teachers. Do you feel that many children lack social skills?

Thanks!

On the social skills question, I'd hate to give a black or white answer. But the fact remains that a child comes to school having gained an invaluable informal education. The effort a parent puts in pays off. By this I mean the child who sees his or her parents respecting themselves and others learns social skills 'by accident'. Socio-economic background or nationality has no bearing on this in my opinion. Obviously, for some children with SEN, social skills usually need to be developed (i.e. in the case of Asbergers, on the Autistic spectrum) but this is slightly different - we're talking about encouraging a child to look you in the eyes when speaking to you, etc. Also, in these situations, the parents are ALWAYS involved. Each child with an SEN has an individual education plan (by law), drawn up by the school including input from parents and in conjunction with any relevant bodies, i.e. the HSE in terms of speech and language therapists, occupational therapists etc. Again, it depends on the nature of the educational need.

[greengoose2]

So the answer to my question is None, then.

Why not scoot over to the Olympic/Irish Pride/British immigrant to NI thread. This one is for people who are interested in education and not trolling!

[alloverbartheshouting]

Do any of the points raised in your long, rambling, badly-edited post not also apply to the other OECD countries against whom our educational standards are being measured?

Ah, Goodbody/Sister/whoever you will be next week/, life is too short for engaging with people like you. You are the kind of individual who obviously enjoys arguing for the sake of it but cannot even do that in a pleasant way. You are incapable of debating with anyone on this site on any topic without having to resort to belligerent posts.

I did try and respectfully enter into a discussion with you and yet again you showed your true colours. Thank god for the ignore button.

[Sister Mercedes]

Ah, Goodbody/Sister/whoever you will be next week/, life is too short for engaging with people like you. You are the kind of individual who obviously enjoys arguing for the sake of it but cannot even do that in a pleasant way. You are incapable of debating with anyone on this site on any topic without having to resort to belligerent posts.

I did try and respectfully enter into a discussion with you and yet again you showed your true colours. Thank god for the ignore button.

Don't confuse me with any other people who've called you to account on your lazy arguments. And I would consider this a more typical example of a belligerent -and rude- post. Which you Liked.

Parents intolerant of disabled children being in their own children's classes.

[gatsbygirl20]

I don't have time to read all the posts in this thread but I'll add my own experience to this.
My daughter has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, ADHD and dyspraxia. She goes to a mainstream school and has a classroom assistant. We considered sending her to a special school but were advised against it by every type of professional. She is academically bright. The best reader in the class by a mile and at or above average with numbers. Her behaviour used to be outrageous all the time, but now with the right care and attention both at home and in school, she only freaks out the odd time. And lo and behold, she is starting to make friends.

I am not going to get dogmatic about regular school or special school, nor should any of you. Do what's best for each child, case by case.
Remember that sending a child to a special school is a much bigger burden on the state.

Life would be dull if we were all "normal" and all had the same abilities.

Delighted about your daughter.

One of the highest achievers in my Leaving Cert class last year was a student with Asperger's syndrome.

Asperger kids are just different, as we are all entitled to be, and there are excellent training and information programmes for teachers to upskill and inform themselves on Aspergers.

If you teach in an inclusive school as I do, you notice that neither teachers nor pupils bat an eye at difference---you are just so used to it, and we all learn a lot from each other.

One of my Asperger kids has brilliant verbal skills and can put me in my box with a withering, well-phrased remark, to the delight of the other kids, who are used to Ms Gatsbygirl being the smart-mouth of the class with the good verbal skills. The child is gaining confidence and making friends....

I have to admit however that there have been situations of quite severe disability where I have often wondered if the child might not benefit more from the specialised care of a special school.
But parents want mainstream schooling for their kids above all else--I can understand this, I would be the same---and they should have that choice.

As far as the survey in the OP is concerned---People are in survival mode. They fear for their childrens futures. They are looking out for their own. There has also developed a kind of schadenfreude or scapegoat culture, encouraged by the media, of thinking other people have it too cushy and are getting something for nothing, while you belong to the group in society who has to work the hardest or take the hardest hit, and carry everyone else.....It is part of the fracturing of society since the crash---the "us-and-them" culture of the times we live in..

[QuizMaster]

special needs teachers are often effectivley private tutors in schools where thier are only a few special needs pupils , were theese special needs children attending a special school , it would only be nesscesery to have one special needs teachers for around fifteen pupils , i realise this is a sensitive subject but it makes no sense to say employing special needs teachers in conventional schools is less expensive for the state

So you imagine the pupil-teacher ratio in special needs schools is 15 to 1? How very wrong you are. Our child would get a lot more care and attention in a special needs school than she does now. She gets about 2.5 hours SNA per day, though the HSE made it clear she needs full time care. Also there is the cost of transport. We drive to our local school, it is 20 miles to the nearest special school and you the taxpayer would be forking out for that trip, and not any ordinary bus either.

I suppose it all depends on what you think the state is meant to be there for.