Bennett Report Card 2012: New Brunswick Hides Denial of Evidence Based Learning for Children with Autism and Severe Learning Disabilities Under Cloak of Radical Inclusion Philosophy

In Scares, Misadventures, and Reversals in Canadian K-12 Education Paul W. Bennett, Founding Director, Schoolhouse Consulting; Instructor, Mount Saint Vincent University; author, provides his 2012 report card on the state of education in Canada. There were some hopeful signs including the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Moore case in which the Court ruled that BC school board: 

"had discriminated against a dyslexic child who was not given adequate help to attain literacy. “Adequate special education is not a dispensable luxury,” Judge Rosalie Abella ruled. “For those with severe learning disabilities, it is the ramp that provides access to the statutory commitment to education made to all children in British Columbia.”"

There were also some not so positive signs including the Ontario education meltdown, still underway, and the dominance of radical, everyone in the regular classroom inclusion philosophy under the current Alward-Carr government influenced heavily by Gordon Porter:

"Plight of the Severely Learning Disabled and Autistic Children 

Somewhere between 2 and 4 per cent of all school children and teens, numbering from 2,100 to 4,200 in New Brunswick, are reportedly struggling with serious learning challenges, while served mostly in inclusive regular classrooms. During a 2012 five-year provincial review of Inclusive Education, Harold L. Doherty of Facing Autism in New Brunswick lambasted the radical inclusionist review co-chair Gordon Porter for abandoning autistic and severely learning disabled kids by denying them access to intensive, research-based intervention strategies and programs. His legitimate concerns and those of the New Brunswick Learning Disabilities Association (LDNB) fell mostly on deaf ears."

In the Alward-Carr-Porter education department successful training of Education (Teacher) Assistants by the recognized UNB-CEL Autism Training Program was replaced by an in house model that had been rejected 6 years earlier by the Autism Society New Brunswick in repeated, sometimes intense, meetings with government leaders.  In its place is  a model of in house training (why not train all teachers in house, if its good enough for students with severe autism disorders why aren't in house trained teachers good enough for all students?) In house training is subject to competing demands, adult interests such as those present in union seniority provisions, budget financial constraints etc. work against the best interests of the child in in house training models.  

Next target for the radical inclusion philosopher kings in NB's department of education is likely to be all individualized education arrangements in NB schools and the resource centers that allow students with special challenges to meet in a comfortable environment where resource teachers and assistants can help them start and finish their days and ensure a true sense of friendship,  belonging .... and personal security. 

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Dear Honourable Ministers: Conor Has Voted Again for Flexible, Meaningful Inclusion, Alternative Learning Arrangements

Conor, anxious to get to Leo Hayes High School, to the resource center with other challenged kids for socialization, and to his individual learning area for his ABA based instruction, watches the clock this morning. Conor votes YES for flexible inclusion with meaningful access to learning.

Minutes before departure Conor, on his own initiative, brings Dad his sneakers to make sure I don't forget to drive him to school on time. 

Honourable Jody Carr Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development
Honourable Dorothy Shephard Minister of Healthy and Inclusive Communities

Dear Honourable Ministers:

I am forwarding the above composite picture of my son Conor, seated in the kitchen watching the clock at 7:30 am this morning.  Conor, now 16 years old, has severe Autistic Disorder and is assessed with profound developmental delays.  He was not placed on a "time out" chair for having behaved badly.  He was sitting there of his own choice because he was, as he is every day, anxious to get to school at Leo Hayes High School, an experience he truly loves and one which he misses during the summer months.  

I encouraged Conor to engage in other activities instead of just sitting on the chair and he did so. At precisely 7:55 though Conor, again on his own initiative, brought me a pair of my sneakers and handed them to me,  as a polite reminder to Dad to get ready to take him to school. To the far left of the picture is a red object. It is his school back pack including his lunch pack which he packs the night before and placed in the fridge.  In the morning, on his own initiative, he places the lunch pack inside the back pack and places them near the exit door to ensure that it is with him when Dad drives him to school in the morning.  

With these actions Conor indicates clearly what a positive experience his flexible inclusive education at Leo Hayes HS is for him.  Conor does not, at our request receive his instruction in a regular classroom. Some autistic children can prosper in a regular classroom and some, like Conor, require instruction outside the regular classroom in a quieter space where he is not overwhelmed by noise and other distractions. 

Conor started his schooling in a regular classroom and came home every day with self inflicted bite marks  on his hands and wrists. (self injurious behavior is a recognized condition commonly associated with autism disorders). Once removed the biting ceased and Conor received his instruction in an individualized area in grade school, middle school and high school.  His instruction has been provided by education assistants/teacher aides trained at the excellent UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program.  

Conor's socialization has NOT been impaired by these arrangements.  Throughout school he has, in consultation with us, his parents, been involved in various outings and activities within his abilities including some specified gym activities, swimming (his favorite), outings like apple picking (another favorite) and last year he even attended a play put on at Fredericton's playhouse. Other students have ALWAYS greeted Conor warmly at every level of school. Some have even sought him out at our home in order to say hello to him outside of school. At Tim Horton restaurants Conor has been greeted by staff who are were students at school and knew him through Best Buddies. I underline these facts because it is important to realize that full regular mainstream inclusion is NOT necessary to ensure a full social learning experience for children with severe challenges like my son.  

One of the greatest socialization assets for Conor has been the Resource Center at the Leo Hayes High School. The RC is well staffed with trained experienced personnel that know how to manage children with extra needs in as stress free a manner as possible.  It also provides a variety of tools and sharing of information directly by people who are actually working directly with challenged children.  Stigmatization does not occur by placing challenged children in a resource center for parts of the day.  Stigmatization and outright harm occurs by pretending that all children regardless of cognitive level and regardless of disability based sensory and behavioral challenges,  must receive instruction in the same area as their chronological "peers". 

I have made these statements again on Conor's behalf, as I have made them throughout his education because of the constant threat posed to the flexible mode of inclusion that has benefited him in his education. The ideologically based every child in the regular classroom model to which this current administration and its most trusted advisers subscribe would be detrimental and harmful to my son if inflicted upon him, if his ABA based learning in an alternative area or if his socialization, security and happiness in the Leo Hayes High School are targeted for elimination.

Conor demonstrates the success of the current flexible model of inclusion, of the ABA instruction he has received outside the regular classroom, of the security and opportunity for socialization that the Leo Hayes High School Resource Center provides.  Please do not ignore Conor's story while making decisions affecting his future and the future of other children who need accommodation outside the regular classroom.

Although I am a lawyer by profession I try to avoid making legal arguments in education discussion since they can unfortunately lead to confrontation when cooperation and understanding are so badly needed to ensure proper education and development of children.  Having said that I will provide you, with respect, to two links to documents summarizing leading precedents in Canadian jurisdiction concerning the need meaningful access to education of children with disabilities written by Yude Henteleff QC a distinguished lawyer and Order of Canada member who has represented many disability organizations in Canada. Without getting too detailed I believe these documents can be summarized by saying that case law has established that an ideological insistence on regular classroom placement of all children regardless of disability considerations, and without providing alternative arrangements to accommodate their disability based challenges can constitute unlawful discrimination:

1. The Fully Inclusive Classroom Is Only One of the Right Ways to Meet the Best Interests of the Special Needs Child.  (2004) Yude M. Henteleff 

2. MEANINGFUL ACCESS, INCLUDING THE PROVISION OF A WIDE RANGE OF PLACEMENTS, AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF INCLUSIVITY IN EDUCATION by Yude M. Henteleff C.M., Q.C., LL.D. (Hon.) (2012)

I would ask you foremost though to simply look at these pictures of Conor and take my word as his parent, as a long time autism advocate and representative of the Autism Society New Brunswick during the MacKay and Ministerial Committee inclusive education reviews (and current acting ASNB President). Not all children, and certainly not ALL autistic children function well in the regular classroom.   The ASNB position that children should be educated in a manner consistent with an evidence based determination of their best interests is consisted with the policies of the Canadian Learning Disabilities Association. It is also consistent with the first section of the PNB definition of Inclusive Education that resulted from the Ministerial Committee review of inclusive education:

"Inclusive Education

I. Vision

An evolving and systemic model of inclusive education where all children reach their full learning potential and decisions are based on the individual needs of the student and  founded on evidence." (underlining added - HLD)

I ask both of you Honourable Ministers to be faithful to the above definition of inclusive education fashioned after years of consultation conducted by Ministers of the Lord and Graham governments and examined the evidence of my son and other children with needs that require education outside the regular classroom.  Please continue the option for individualized education outside the regular classroom for those like my son who require that arrangement.  And please do not eliminate valuable, proven resources like the Leo Hayes High School Resource Center that have contributed so much in the way of socialization, security and friendship for my son and others with similar needs.

Respectfully,

Harold L Doherty

Fredericton NB

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CBC: Autism advocate questions 'extreme' inclusion model

The caption below the picture of me and Conor is from the CBC web site article Autism advocate questions 'extreme' inclusion model.

"A high-profile autism advocate in New Brunswick is questioning the merits of what he calls the Department of Education's extreme inclusion model. “I believe that the kind of evidence-based intervention that we need for our children, in some cases children with autism, is absolutely necessary and to deny it is a denial of the human rights, basically, of children like my son,” he said. Doherty was responding to a recent statement written by Gordon Porter, the former head of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission.

Harold Doherty, who has an autistic son and runs a blog dedicated to autism issues, contends the classroom isn't the right setting for every child. Porter, who has played a key role in the province's approach to inclusive education, wrote on a Canadian education website that some interventions in the school system result in segregation and pose a challenge to inclusive education. Doherty, however, argues that’s based on philosophy, not evidence.

He is challenging Porter to a public debate on the issue."

Following is the CBC audio clip of my interview by CBC's Terry Seguin.

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Autism and Extreme Inclusion: I Challenge You Gordon Porter To A Public Debate Of Your Extreme Inclusion Beliefs

Evidence Extreme Inclusion Advocates Ignore

Dr. Gordon Porter was one of the members of NB Premier David Alward's post election transition team of special advisers.  Unfortunately for many NB students with severe autism deficits he has continued to act as a special adviser to both Premier Alward and Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr.  Gordon Porter's past record consists of promoting his own extreme inclusion agenda which dictates that all children with special needs, including children severely affected by autism disorders and developmental delays, must be educated in the mainstream classroom.  A recent comment by professor and education consultant Dr. Paul W. Bennett questions Dr. Porter's "full" inclusion philosophy and highlights a recent public statement by Dr. Porter that does not bode well for some special needs children in NB schools, including those, like my son, who are severely affected by autism and developmental delays.

Since the last provincial election Dr. Porter has been conducting yet another review, the third such review in the past 10 years,  of inclusion policies in New Brunswick schools.  The first was conducted by Wayne MacKay. During that process I attended as an autism representative with fellow autism parent Dawn Bowie, a registered nurse.  Dr. Porter who participated in a discussion group with  Dawn and me was visibly unhappy with our attempts to speak specifically about the needs of autistic children,  the needs of some autistic students for evidence based learning methods and quieter learning environments outside the mainstream classroom.  He admonished us for our comments declaring that "you people" should be thankful for what you have.

The second inclusion review was a high profile Ministerial Review led by the Ministers of Education, Health and Social Development. It included broad consultation of community groups, unions and government officials and resulted in a new definition of inclusive education  for New Brunswick schools that recognizes the best interests of the student and evidence based practices as guiding principles in New Brunswick schools:

"Inclusive Education

I. Vision 

An evolving and systemic model of inclusive education where all children reach their full learning potential and decisions are based on the individual needs of the student and founded on evidence.

...

III. Overarching Principles

The provision of inclusive public education is based on three complementary principles:  

(1) public education is universal - the provincial curriculum is provided equitably to all students and 

this is done in an inclusive, common learning environment  shared among age-appropriate, 

neighbourhood peers; 

(2) public education is individualized - the success of each student depends on the degree to 

which education is based on the student’s best interests and responds to his or her strengths 

and needs; and 

(3) public education is flexible and responsive to change. 

Recognizing that every student can learn, the personnel of the New Brunswick public education 

system will provide a quality inclusive education to each student ensuring that: 

Student-centered 

1. all actions pertaining to a student are guided by the best interest of the 

student as determined through competent examination of the available 

evidence;

2. all students are respected as individuals.  Their strengths, abilities and 

diverse learning needs are recognized as their foundation for learning and 

their learning challenges are identified, understood and accommodated;  

3. all students have the right to learn in a positive learning environment;"

The evidence based practices principles established in the 2009 inclusive education policy was opposed strenuously, during the second inclusion review, by the representative of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living, a group tied very closely to Dr. Porter.  

The third inclusion review led by Dr. Porter is likely to see an unraveling of the principles of evidence based accommodation of individual student needs. I attended, after requesting the opportunity to do so, a discussion group held at the education building on King Street in Fredericton, during the third review directed by  a retired education official with close ties to the NBACL.  I arrived before other participants and had a pleasant chat with the director.  Once the discussion started though the director did not want to let me contribute to the round table discussion.  She stated twice, in denying me the opportunity to speak, that we would like to give others the opportunity to  speak. I was puzzled because I had not addressed the discussion at all when she began muzzling me. Finally I asked her if she would prefer that I leave the discussion since she apparently did not want to hear what I had to say.  She did then allow me to speak but it was clear to me that my input was not welcome.

In his comment “Full Inclusion” in Public Schools: Is It Best for all Special Needs Kids?  Dr. Paul W. Bennett reviews Dr. Porter's "full" inclusion model, some of the history of the perpetual campaign by Dr. Porter and Professor Wayne MacKay to impose their extreme version of inclusion on New Brunswick schools and their close connections to the current New Brunswick government.  He summarizes a recent commentary by Dr. Porter on the subject of inclusion in our schools,  and asks serious questions about Porter's apparent bias as the co-director of the current New Brunswick inclusion review.

In the commentary Are We Star Gazing? Can Canadian Schools Really be Equitable and Inclusive?  Dr. Porter displays no knowledge or understanding whatsoever of the needs of  autistic children in the school system.  The ego that landed 30 years ago and imposed extreme inclusion on all NB students including those, like my son, with severe autistic and developmental challenges, goes into a full scale attack against the provision of expert, evidence based approaches to the education of children with severe challenges: "we need to repudiate the notion that “special” or “expert” is better when the result is a program that is “segregation” and “exclusion”"

Gordon Porter provides no references to studies or evidence of any kind to back up the opinions he expresses in his commentary.  My son was removed from one of Dr. Porter's "inclusive" classrooms here in New Brunswick at our request because he was biting his hands every day in the classroom where he was overwhelmed by the sensory challenges and by the fact that he was not functioning on the same level of intellect and understanding as his chronological peers. He was removed with the  cooperation and concern of the local educators who could actually see what Gordon Porter's inclusion, what his egotistical insistence that all children prosper in the mainstream classroom was doing to my son. Gordon Porter's inclusion was hurting my son. Once removed from the classroom to a quieter area the biting ceased.

Now in high school Conor starts his days with other challenged children in a resource center, he goes to public areas of the school and to the swimming pool at  the local middle school he once attended.  He also recently attended, with other challenged students from the school's resource center, a play put on at the Playhouse by a group of Leo Hayes High School students.  My son has been accommodated under a flexible model of inclusion which sees him visit common areas and socialize within his abilities while receiving the evidence based instruction he needs in quieter areas of the school.  With flexible inclusion and the evidence based instruction Gordon Porter opposes my son absolutely loves school. It is Gordon Porter's extreme inclusion model that has in the past, and once again, poses a serious threat to his real inclusion in a positive educational experience.

You may or may not be a star gazer Gordon Porter but you are fundamentally ignorant about what my son, and many others with similar challenges, need in order to prosper and enjoy their education experience.

Dr. Porter, if you, or any of your friends in the NBACL or in the Alward government,  are reading this blog I challenge you to debate me openly and publicly on the merits of the extreme inclusion model that caused harm to my son and which you are now in the process of imposing once again on him and children with similar challenges.

I won't hold my breath waiting for you to accept my challenge.

Harold Doherty
Conor's Dad

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Autism & Real Inclusion: Conor Counts the Days (40) to School

My son does not receive what many would consider an inclusive education. Those who subscribe to the philosophy that all children benefit from learning in a mainstream classroom  would be horrified to learn that my son receives his individualized, ABA based instruction outside the classroom in individual environments in the local high school.  He also begins and ends his day and spends time in a resource center with other children with challenges and interacts with other students to the best of his limited abilities in the common areas.

When Conor began school he started in the mainstream classroom and came home each day with bite marks on his hands and wrists.  That self injurious behavior declined substantially and has been almost non existent in the years between then and his first year in high school last year. For Conor the individualized learning area working with an autism trained education assistant and interacting with other students in the resource center and in other common areas of the school represent real, evidence based inclusion.  This is the inclusion that works for my son and the evidence is crystal clear.  

It would be nice if the ideologues who insist that all children must be educated in the mainstream classroom would break free of their ideological chains and look at the evidence. Some children require individualized learning environments for all or part of their day.  When learning is provided based on what works best for the child that is real inclusive education.  

Summer is tough for Conor.  He looks forward to going back to school, to Leo Hayes High School, and talks about school on a frequent basis.  One of the things we do to provide encouragement is to just ask him each day "how many days until school".  Conor provides the answer and in doing so feels better by knowing he will be going back sooner with each passing day.  Today Conor's answer was "40 days until school". I am sure he felt better than yesterday when the answer was 41.  Conor loves school, he loves a real, evidence based learning experience.  

To paraphrase one of autistic children's greatest friends, Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, Conor is being taught in the way he can learn and part of the proof is in his eagerness to get back to school.  The way Conor learns is in an evidence based inclusive education that accommodates his learning needs and autism based challenges. 

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Child With Autism Removed From BC School Which Lacked Autism Trained Staff

Work Safe BC Inspection Report, Vancouver Sun

The Vancouver Sun reports that a six year old child with an autism disorder, that's right six years old, was removed from a Langley, British Columbia school after a Worksafe BC investigation agreed with a complaint by staff who refused to work at the school because of the danger posed by the six year old autistic boy.  The article points out that the staff at the school who refused to work with the young child have no training in something called "the Crisis Response Plan Protocol".  The WSBC report also quoted a Langley area Teacher Association President who commented on the lack of adequate "special education" training for teachers.

No one referenced in the article speaks of the need to have teachers and aides with autism specific training working with autistic school children.  Here in New Brunswick autism specific  training of Resource Teachers and Aides, through the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program  has taken place over the last 6 years with great benefit to many autistic school children, including my son.  The UNB-CEL program has received recognition from such sources as David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA, President of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment and Eric V. Larsson, Ph.D, LP, BCBA  Executive Director of Clinical Services at the Lovaas Institute Midwest.  

Unfortunately not all districts and schools educating autistic children have been interested in having autism trained teachers and aides working with autistic children.  Here in New Brunswick we still have autistic children being sent home from schools because school staff are not properly trained in how to educate and management the behavioral challenges of autistic children.  The problem has been compounded in New Brunswick by the extreme inclusion views of Gordon Porter, currently a special adviser to Education Minister Jody Carr, and the architect of New Brunswick's extreme inclusion model which forcefully encourages all children to be dumped in the mainstream classroom whether or not it is in their best interests to do so.

Autism disorders are neurological disorders which are still not taken seriously by some educators including, apparently, those in BC, and of course New Brunswick's own Gordon Porter. The best interests of autistic children are simply not always on the agenda for cost cutting school administrators or ideologues who believe that only they understand what is best for all school children.

Provide credible autism specific training for those who work with autistic children? Accommodate them, if the best interests of the specific child require a quieter learning environment for all or parts of the school day? Heaven forbid.

Far easier to blame the autistic child, keep him or her out of school, and forget about the child's best interests.

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