BC students with learning disabilities left waiting
Posted February 8, 2014 4:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The wait-list for BC public school students suspected of having learning disabilities is growing and that has teachers and parents growing increasingly frustrated.
Teachers say wait lists are so long, it can take up to five years to get struggling students to school psychologists or other professionals so they can get classroom help.
BC Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker says students are left waiting thanks to government cuts, especially when it comes to educational assistants.
“It’s so important that we have the extra support from specialist teachers that can spend time with the individual students that need that extra help.”
Struggling students can’t be assigned educational assistants until their disability has been identified by school specialists.
“The systems that we’ve had, the cuts that we’ve experienced, the less access to specialist teachers, it does take a long time,” admits Iker.
He adds giving struggling students extra classroom assistance means teachers are able to give more help to other kids in the class also in need of attention.
