Inclusion Done Right: Conor at Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre

Pictures above and below: Inclusion done right at Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre

Pictures courtesy of Steve at the LHHS Resource Centre

Inclusion done wrong is inclusion as advocated by Gordon Porter of the CACL and NBACL, and the current Conservative government which has very close ties to Mr Porter and the NBACL.  According to them inclusion  means that ALL children, including those with severe disabilities like my son Conor MUST be educated in the regular classroom.  This is a philosophical belief held by Gordon Porter and those who follow, in a cult like fashion, his teachings.  It is a belief system but it is not an evidence based system.  It actually results in harm to some children including some children with severe autism disorders and intellectual disabilities, some of whom are actually removed from the school system to be educated at home.   I have fought against this non evidence based, belief system since Conor has been in grade 2 when the challenges for him to receive education in a regular classroom resulted in daily self injurious behavior especially biting of his hands and wrists.

Inclusion done right is what Conor has received since our concerns were made known to the school system in Grade 2. The local school authorities could see the evidence for themselves on his hands and wrists and Conor was, and has been accommodated, since then..  Conor receives his ABA based instruction in a separate room in a neighborhood school, Nashwaaksis Memorial grade school, Nashwaaksis Middle School and Leo Hayes High School.  Conor is based in the Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre an excellent accommodation for the needs of many students with diverse conditions requiring accommodation. In that environment he has a number of adults who have both the aptitude and the interest in accommodating the needs of children with various extra needs. On trips to grocery stores in our neighborhood, and at the local theatre among other places, Conor has been greeted joyfully by the friends he has made at the LHHS Resource Centre.  Conor enjoys time in the school gym, in the controlled parking lot area where the chalk fun took place and where a basketball hoop offers Conor some extra fun.  Most of all Conor goes with other students from the Resource Centre to the swimming pool at his old middle school.  Conor loves, loves, loves the swimming pool and has social opportunities during activites he loves to do.

The assistants who work at the LHHSRC come to know Conor personally and understand his strengths and his limits.  He participates in some of the activities organized by the Resource Centre and not in some others. The Centre does consult with us with respect to activities chosen for Conor.  The LHHS Resource Centre team, often with the assistance of Best Buddies, has provided Conor with some very enjoyable activities which invoved him socially with other students both those at the Centre and those in Best Buddies and others who are kind enough to offer their time and attention. 

Conor has benefited greatly from the LHHS Resource Centre model of inclusion and the fine people who make it work.  The self injurious biting of his hands while forced into a regular classroom is long gone.  Conor loves the Resource Centre, a message I have provided to Gordon Porter at the STU Human Rights Inclusion symposium at the Crowne Plaza two summers ago.  It is a message, and evidence, which he chooses to ignore. Gordon Porter and the current government may not look at the evidence but open minded rational people can see the evidence in Conor's face in the pictures accompanying  this comment.

The Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre is a model of inclusion done right, one which accommodates, based on the evidence, the specific needs of individual students with extra challenges.  If you don't believe  me look at my happy Conor in these pictures.

Gordon Porter's Vanity And Bill 61, An Act To Amend The Education Act, Will Result in MORE EXCLUSIONARY Education Practices in New Brunswick Schools

Gordon Porter believes that inclusive education is simple. Unfortunately most teachers, the NBTA organisation itself, aides and education administrators have been bullied and intimidated into following his simple philosophy unquestioningly even though they know it flies in the face of the truth. They know that many children are present in NB schools with complex learning, behavior, cognitive and sensory challenges which render education under any label anything but simple but they dare not speak out.  More and more children are, and with the current Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Education Act, more and more in future will be, excluded from NB schools as placement and learning options are reduced in favor of Mr Porter's regular classes and mindlessly simple philosophy.

The picture by Diane Crocker above and accompanying quotes are from the Newfoundland paper the Western Star article, "Inclusion in the classroom ‘simple,’ says educator", with highlighting added by me for emphasis:

"CORNER BROOK — Gordon Porter believes inclusion is the most natural thing in the world. The educator and director of Inclusive Education Initiatives presented a session on inclusive education at the Greenwood Inn and Suites on Thursday. Porter, who is also the editor of the Inclusive Education Canada website inclusive education.ca, spoke to parents, educators and agency professionals who deal with children with special needs at the pre-conference for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living Conference taking place in the city today and Saturday. The session was sponsored by the Community Inclusion Initiative. 

 Porter’s session revolved around the theme of parents and teachers working together to make inclusion work.“It means kids go to their neighbourhood schools with kids their own age in regular classes,” said Porter.“If you’re seven years, old you go to the school just down the street. You go in a class with other seven-year-olds, and you’re supported if you have extra needs. “It’s so simple, it’s that simple,” said Porter."

Gordon Porter's vanity has led to exclusive education practices in New Brunswick schools.  I know this to be true, teachers, aides and administrators in NB schools and retired teachers know this to be true. The only ones who do not know this to be true are Gordon Porter who has aggressively pushed  his own simplistic, non evidence based,  non inclusive education on NB students and schools over the past 30+ years and his NBACL followers. Mr Porter's simple (his own words) philosophy has resulted, and continues to result, in more restricted range of options for placement of children with severe learning, behavior and cognitive challenges within New Brunswick schools. By restricting the range of placement options for NB students Mr Porter has forced numbers of students including students with severe autism, cognitive and behavior challenges out of their local schools to home based learning.  

In some cases students have been locked in rooms by themselves with no supervision, some have been charged with assault, some have banned from school premises.  When the Porter, everybody in the mainstream classroom, false inclusion philosophy fails the child is blamed and he or she is banned from the so called inclusive schools of NB.  

Mr Porter can receive dozens of ribbons to pin on his chest from countries with struggling education systems but the reality in NB is that education is rapidly becoming more exclusive, less inclusive, as options that might accommodate persons with severe autistic, cognitive, sensory and obsessive behaviors are simply eliminated from schools.

My interest in the false inclusion in NB schools arises from my son's severe challenges.  He has in fact been accommodated ... by individualized instruction outside the regular classroom with ample socialization at the local swimming pool and gym and daily connection with other children in the Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre, an excellent, practical, evidence based and truly inclusive resource for children with extra needs.  The LHHS Resource Centre though is at serious risk as Gordon Porter continues to push entrenchment and expansion of his exclusionary policies in NB schools. 

My son's alternative arrangements came about in part because of our advocacy on his behalf.  I happen to be a lawyer and have some professional skills that are of assistance in communicating with education officials and advocating for our son. Some other parents are not as fortunate and some have more than one child with extra needs. 

With respect to autism spectrum disorders the University of North Carolina TEACCH program which has substantial influence in academic and professional autism circles has articulated the following position statement (underling added by me for emphasis) on inclusion of children with autism one which calls for a range of placement options.  It is an evidence based position which recognizes the heterogeneity of autism disorders and the range of accommodations required:

"TEACCH's position on inclusion of children with autism:

1. The TEACCH program recognizes the important value of preparing all persons with autism for successful functioning within society. Each person with autism should be taught with the goal of successful functioning with as few restrictions as is possible.                                                            
2. Decisions about including children with autism into fully integrated settings must be made consistent with the principle of the "least restrictive environment" as a guiding principle. No person with autism should be unnecessarily or inappropriately denied access to meaningful educational activities. However, it should be noted that the concept of least restrictive environment requires that appropriate learning take place. Placement decisions also require that students be capable of meaningful learning and functioning within the setting selected
3. Activities which are inclusive for children with autism should be offered based on an individual assessment of the child's skills and abilities to function and participate in the setting. Inclusion activities are appropriate only when preceded by adequate assessment and pre-placement preparations including appropriate training. Inclusion activities typically need to be supported by professionals trained in autism who can provide assistance and objective evaluation of the appropriateness of the activity.
4. Inclusion should never replace a full continuum of service delivery, with different students with autism falling across the full spectrum. Full inclusion should be offered to all persons with autism who are capable of success in fully integrated settings. Partial inclusion is expected to be appropriate for other clients with autism. And special classes and schools should be retained as an option for those students with autism for whom these settings are the most meaningful and appropriate.

Mr Porter's obsession with everybody in the classroom philosophy will hurt many more children as it becomes even more entrenched by the current Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Education Act, which will, once passed into law, give greater legal status to Mr Porter's false notion of inclusion. The principle that the evidence based best interests of the child should be a dominant consideration in setting school policy will now be challenged by Mr Porter's inclusion illusion.  More and more NB students will be forced from NB schools into home based learning.  

Through the Cracks: For Adults With Severe Developmental Disabilities Huge Gaps Remain

The philosophical, feel good, cliches of the Canadian Association for Community Living and its provincial organizations such as the New Brunswick Association for Community Living paint a pretty picture of a bridge permitting those with severe disabilities to cross over to a wonderful life in the community. 

The reality  is much different, particularly for those with severe autism disorders, intellectual disability, epileptic seizures and other poorly understood conditions. For them there are huge gaps and no bridge at all.  

Government should be held accountable but so too should organizations like the CACL and the NBACL who provide cover for governments by continually opposing efforts to develop modern, secure, decent, professionally run facilities between the levels of the untrained, unsupervised, inadequate group homes and the psychiatric and medical hospitals where many with severe developmental disabilities are dumped out of sight and mind of all including the CACL and the NBACL.


The United Church Observer article, Through the cracks, by  Kevin Spurgaitis,  tackles issues relating to the lack of available care for adults with severe developmental disabilities including autism disorders.  Simply by addressing, and shining a spotlight on the lack of places that can provide permanent residential care to those with autism disorders they have helped to address the hard realities faced by many with severe developmental disorders including severe autism.  I was interviewed by telephone by Kevin Spurgatis, who was exceptionally courteous and respectful, qualities which show up in the article itself.  I thank Kevin Spurgaitis and the United Church Observer for their effort.   

It will probably come as no surprise though, to anyone who knows me on a personal level, or knows my views on disabilities and the role played in Canada by the Canadian Association for Community Living and its New Brunswick version the New Brunswick Association for Community Living, that I believe Mr Spurgaitis's article does not address the responsibility of the CACL and provincial divisions like the NBACL  for their roles in creating the cracks through which people like my son with severe autism disorder, intellectual disability and seizures fall.

The feel good and rigid anti-institution mindsets of these organizations have helped prevent the development of facilities which would provide permanent residency, care by properly trained caregivers and treatment for their serious conditions.  The ACL organizations persistently argue against anything that might be labelled an "institution" even if there is no alternative available.  In doing so the NBACL has helped push NB'ers with severe autism disorders to lives spent in the Restigouche Psychiatric Hospital, to hospital wards and to facilities out of province such as the Spurwink facility in Maine. 

This is not speculation on my part. I have participated in several education and adult disability reviews in New Brunswick in which NBACL representatives have fought bitterly against any meaningful attempt to develop the necessary facilities to ensure a quality life for those, like my son who suffer from severe autism, intellectual disability and seizures. As long as the NBACL continues providing feel good cliche coverage to governments for failing to provide a modern residential care and treatment facility  to those with severe needs, people like my son will suffer much more limited lives.  Here in New Brunswick our government's favorite charity organization, the NBACL, is a major contributor to the problem, they help ensure that people like my son will continue to fall through the cracks.

Although my views diverge from the portrait of the CACL and their provincial counterparts as set out by Mr. Spurgaitis and the United Church Observer I do genuinely appreciate the fact that they have raised the issue.  As I said I also appreciate, very much, Mr. Spurgaitis' courteous, respectful questioning and his inclusion of severe autism disorder in his article.

New Brunswick's Extreme Inclusion Fantasy Harms Some Children With Severe Autism Challenges

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr 

 EECD/NBACL Event Focus on Inclusion: Walking in our shoes.

Minister Carr spoke for 40 minutes, repeating the word

 inclusion 30 - 40 times but never mentioning  evidence based 

accommodation of individual needs and challenges 

Premier David Alward's government has transferred control over New Brunswick education policies and practices to the NB Association for Community Living.  The NBACL is, beyond doubt, an organization of  people with good intentions committed to improving the lives of those with intellectual challenges.  I wish , as the father of a son with severe autism disorder and profound developmental delays I could support them.   Unfortunately the NBACL, and its federal counterpart the CACL, have subscribed for decades to a philosophical, non-evidence based, belief  that all children's best interests are served, protected and accommodated by placement in a regular classroom. Alternative learning arrangements are demonized as "segregation" when in fact such arrangements constitute evidence based accommodation of disabilities that some children, including my son with severe autistic disorder and profound developmental delays, need in order to gain access to a real education.  

In handing control over the education of children with disability challenges to NBACL the Alward government is acting in defiance of its obligation to ensure that education decision making represent the best interests of children founded on evidence.  It has placed many children with autism and other severe disability challenges at risk of being deprived of meaningful access to a real education, at risk of suffering mental and physical harm and at risk of being charged with criminal offences.  The Alward government has sacrificed some children with autism disorders and other disabilities to a fairy tale, one that is known to be untrue by many teachers, education assistants and parents.

In handing control over education of children with disability challenges to NBACL the Alward government  has abandoned democratic principles by surrendering one of government's most important responsibilities to an outside organization unaccountable to voters.  Equally concerning is the fact that the NBACL does not subscribe to modern, evidence based approaches to educating children with disabilities.

The NBACL adheres to one philosophical principle which it places above the best interests of individual students and which ignores the government's existing Inclusive Education Definition policy which requires education decision making based on the individual needs of the student and founded on evidence (not simplistic extreme inclusion philosophy) ... needs which in some cases, such as my severely autistic son, require education outside the regular classroom.  In any public discussion by NBACL reps of the Inclusive Education Definition no mention is made of the stipulation that inclusive education decision making is premised on  individual student needs  based on an a foundation of evidence requirement.  Nor is any mention made of the  fact that students with special challenges, autistic students in particular, in some instances very young, grade school students, are sent home from school when they can not function in NBACL inclusive classrooms. 

My son is severely autistic with profound developmental delays.  He has been well accommodated in Fredericton schools since he was removed from the regular classroom at our request. He was overwhelmed in the regular classroom and came home each day with bite marks on his hands until he was removed to an alternate, individualized instruction area where he worked with an autism trained Education Aide.  Some children for whom the regular classroom is not the answer are not as fortunate though; some are expelled from NB schools, sometimes under police escort, and some are charged with assault when their behavior, their inability to exist and function in the NBACL dominated school system results.  It is always the child who is blamed never the ridiculously simple, non evidence based, unthinking philosophy of the NBACL which is forced on parents, education assistants, teachers, resource teachers and education department officials who must fall in line and repeat the NBACL belief in extreme, everyone in the regular classroom fairy tale.

The children who are sent home and in some cases charged with criminal offences are powerful evidence that the simplistic everybody in the mainstream classroom philosophy is a failure that has hurt some children and impedes their access to a meaningful education contrary to the Education Act, the official Definition of Inclusive Education and contrary to principles enunciated in the Moore decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.

New Brunswick Inclusive Education Definition 

The New Brunswick government  Inclusive Education Definition  resulted from two inclusive education reviews: the MacKay and Ministerial Committee reviews. Both were initiated by the Lord government although the Ministerial Committee review continued under the Graham government during which time the Inclusive Education definition, after years of consultation with a wide range of stakeholders,  was concluded. I attended throughout both proceedings as an Autism Society New Brunswick representative,  and advocated, over the persistent opposition of NBACL representatives, for an evidence based approach to the individual education needs of students.  Those principles are set out throughout the Inclusive Education definition but particularly in the vision statement, the student centered principles and the accommodation sections (underlining added for emphasis):

"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;


IV. Accommodation 

Accommodation means changing learning conditions to meet student needs rather than requiring students to fit system needs. Based on analysis, student needs may be met through individual accommodation or, in some cases, through universal responses that meet the individual student’s 

needs as well as those of other students.

The NBACL  now determines education policy and indoctrinates NB teachers and educators but it ignores the principles of evidence based accommodation of individual students and insists on regular classroom placement for all students regardless of needs.  Some may dispute these  points but they are  derived from repeated public statements:

2012 - David Alward's Admission That Community Living Association Sets Policy and Indoctrinates Senior Government Officials

New Brunswick Premier David Alward has publicly acknowledged the role of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living related organizations in setting inclusion and disability policy in New Brunswick as was made clear on the community living organizations' IRIS site. IRIS is the Institute for Research and Development and Inclusion in Society. It purports to be the "research" branch of Community Living Assocations across Canada. The IRIS board of directors consists of present and former Community Living Association officials from accross Canada including former NBACL official Lorraine Silliphant.  

In February 2012 IRIS spent a week indoctrinating high ranking New Brunswick education officials including Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers in the Community Living Association philosophy based policies of full mainstream classroom inclusion as was bragged about on the IRIS web site:

"Premier Alward of New Brunswick acknowledges IRIS’ ‘Policy Making for Inclusion – Leadership Development Program’

New Brunswick Premier David Alward issued a letter Friday February 4th to all participants in the ‘Policy Making for Inclusion – Leadership Development Program’ that will be delivered in Fredericton by IRIS February 6-10 to senior officials with the Government of New Brunswick. The program is designed to assist policy makers achieve the government’s platform commitment to “enable New Brunswickers with disabilities to actively participate in all aspects of society and take their rightful place as full citizens.” With Deputy Ministers, Assistant Deputy Ministers, Human Resources Directors and Policy/Program Directors from across government participating in the week-long series of leadership development workshops, major strides will be taken towards creating a public service in New Brunswick ready and able to deliver on the government commitment to people with disabilities. In his letter, Premier Alward thanked The Institute “for developing this program to inform our public servants on the latest research on disability and inclusion…” A core resource for the program is the guide to Disability and Inclusion Based Policy Analysis just published by The Institute." 

2013 - NBACL  Trains Principals and Teachers

"25 FEB 2013 11:00PM

SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY LIVING ASSOCIATION PARTNER UP

CAROLYN THOMPSON

TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

SAINT JOHN – Schools in southern New Brunswick are seeking support from the New Brunswick Association for Community Living in training principals and teachers on inclusive education approaches.

Shana Soucy, manager of inclusive education for the association, said research has shown that without leaders who champion inclusive education, schools have a more difficult time implementing policies to make learning accessible to all students.

“I think we are doing a lot better with having the kids in the classroom, but are they really included in the lessons or are they just sitting there. We don’t want the segregation in the classroom, we want them to be included in the lesson,” she said."

NBACL Manager of Inclusive Education Shana Soucy identified problems, with inclusive education in New Brunswick, on the NBACL Blog site:

Even though Bill 85 was introduced in 1986 stating the full participation of all students in all aspects of school and community life, without regard to their disability or difficulty, we are still coming across many issues regarding exclusion:

• Segregated classrooms and segregated programs across schools in New Brunswick
• Modifications and accommodations are not being properly done to students’ lessons as noted in their Special Education Plans in order for them to have success in school
• Some students are being excluded from school activities (ie: field trips)
• Students are not only excluded from the regular classroom, they are not able to have lunch in the school cafeteria, instead, having their lunch with other students with a disability and Educational Assistants in the Resource room of the school

Some of what Ms Soucy describes as "segregated" classrooms  and "segregated" programs" are actually evidence based accommodations of the needs of some students with autism disorders like my son Conor who was overwhelmed in the regular classroom and who receives individualized ABA based instruction which is not assisted by being in a regular classroom with other students.  In other words the NBACL officials who now set education policies and train senior government officials, educators and teachers describe evidence based accommodation of the individual needs of some autistic students, including my son, as segregation, as inclusion "issues".   Ms Soucy insults and attacks accommodations specifically made to help children like my son with severe autism and intellectual disability challenges. 

NBACL Inclusve Education Manager Soucy's comments about the Resource room are an insult to students like my son who starts his day and has lunch in the resource room and enjoys tremendously his  time at the Resource Centre at Leo Hayes HS.  Ms. Soucy's issues with Resource Centres are not my son's issues.  Following is a picture of my son on St. Patrick's Day, March 17  2011 as he prepared to leave for school to start his day at the LHHS resource center.  He does not feel like he is being excluded or segregated at all.  He is fact being accommodated and enjoys his learning experience:

My happy, smiling son Conor can't wait to get to LHHS with a 

resource  center for some  purposes and individual environments 

for his  ABA based learning.  He also uses resources such as the

 gym, library, and swimming  pool in common with all students. 

For Conor these arrangements represent accommodation not segregation. 

Contrary to Ms Soucy's  non evidence, philosophy based, beliefs Conor loves his time at the resource centre and his so called "segregated" individualized, evidence based, ABA instruction.  Each evening he packs his lunch bag, places it in his school bag and when he gets up places it in front of the door to make sure it accompanies him to school.  These resources have been vital accommodations of his needs as a student with severe autistic disorder and profound developmental delays.  NBACL has clearly targeted for closure resource centers and individual areas of instruction in NB schools. I am very concerned that the fundamental ignorance of the NBACL adherents will deprive my son, and others whose needs are accommodated outside the regular classroom of these very valuable accommodations of their individual needs.

Imposition of NBACL Icon Gordon Porter's Simplistic, Extreme Inclusion Philosophy on Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 

Even without the indoctrination of high ranking government officials in a week long inclusion training/indoctrination session based on  Community Living policies, and even without government contracting out "disablity" training of teachers to the NBACL on an ongoing basis, NBACL has exercised a dominant role in the current NB government. Gordon Porter, an icon of the NBACL and federal CACL organizations, was a member of the Alward transition advisory team and subsequently conducted, together with NBCLA director Angela Aucoin,  yet another inclusion review which was not conducted objectively or transparently and simply reflects Mr. Porter's philosophy as stated by him during a Newfoundland appearance and reported in a Western Star article by Diane Crocker:

"Inclusion in the classroom ‘simple,’ says educator: 

CORNER BROOK — Gordon Porter believes inclusion is the most natural thing in the world. The educator and director of Inclusive Education Initiatives presented a session on inclusive education at the Greenwood Inn and Suites on Thursday. Porter, who is also the editor of the Inclusive Education Canada website inclusiveeducation.ca, spoke to parents, educators and agency professionals who deal with children with special needs at the pre-conference for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living Conference taking place in the city today and Saturday. The session was sponsored by the Community Inclusion Initiative. 

 Porter’s session revolved around the theme of parents and teachers working together to make inclusion work.“It means kids go to their neighbourhood schools with kids their own age in regular classes,” said Porter.“If you’re seven years, old you go to the school just down the street. You go in a class with other seven-year-olds, and you’re supported if you have extra needs. “It’s so simple, it’s that simple,” said Porter."

Mr. Porter will forever cling to his belief that inclusion is simple if you just dump everyone in the regular classroom regardless of their needs.  There is nothing simple about autism though and I defy anyone to point to an informed source that would say there is. As the parent of a severely autistic child with profound developmental delays, sensory issues and, like many autistic children, capable of engaging in serious self-injury when overwhelmed I can not allow myself to wallow in such ignorance.  

The new DSM5 autism spectrum disorder criterion B expressly recognizes highly restricted, fixated interests, excessive resistance to change, abnormal in intensity or focus, hyper-or-hypo-reactivity to sensory aspects of environment, factors which, for some students with autism make the regular classroom an obstacle to learning and a risk to the child's safety:

Movie theater chains have recognized autism challenges and realities by trying to present sensory friendly showings of some movies.  Self-injurious behavior, (such as head banging and .. hand biting), and responsive (not planned) aggression to others, are recognized as a common problem for many with autism disorders.  The appropriate, evidence based approach to dealing with such issues is to provide a continuum of alternative learning arrangements, meaningful learning and functioning with the environment selected and individualized assessments of students skills and abilities to function within the setting selected,   as described on the web site of the University of North Carolina TEACCH program which has substantial influence in academic and professional autism circles:

"TEACCH's position on inclusion of children with autism:

1. The TEACCH program recognizes the important value of preparing all persons with autism for successful functioning within society. Each person with autism should be taught with the goal of successful functioning with as few restrictions as is possible.
2. Decisions about including children with autism into fully integrated settings must be made consistent with the principle of the "least restrictive environment" as a guiding principle. No person with autism should be unnecessarily or inappropriately denied access to meaningful educational activities. However, it should be noted that the concept of least restrictive environment requires that appropriate learning take place. Placement decisions also require that students be capable of meaningful learning and functioning within the setting selected.
3. Activities which are inclusive for children with autism should be offered based on an individual assessment of the child's skills and abilities to function and participate in the setting. Inclusion activities are appropriate only when preceded by adequate assessment and pre-placement preparations including appropriate training. Inclusion activities typically need to be supported by professionals trained in autism who can provide assistance and objective evaluation of the appropriateness of the activity.
4. Inclusion should never replace a full continuum of service delivery, with different students with autism falling across the full spectrum. Full inclusion should be offered to all persons with autism who are capable of success in fully integrated settings. Partial inclusion is expected to be appropriate for other clients with autism. And special classes and schools should be retained as an option for those students with autism for whom these settings are the most meaningful and appropriate.

Extreme inclusion is not simple, those who truly believe it is do not have actual first hand knowledge of an overwhelmed autistic child who bites his hand in one of Mr. Porter's inclusive classrooms, or one who reacts to the stresses of school and is sent home under police escort; in some instances to face criminal charges.  Inclusion may be simple for Mr. Porter but the simple truth is that he just ignores the evidence, all the evidence, any evidence which contradicts his cherished, fairy tale belief that the regular classroom solves all problems, even evidence of physical and mental harm that results from imposition of extreme inclusion policies on all students regardless of their needs.

At a Fredericton session during the Porter-Aucoin review discussion focused on integrating early autism intervention services into a smooth transition into the school system. ASNB was not invited to the Porter-Aucoin inclusion review session even though it was our advocacy that resulted in the establishment in NB of evidence based early autism intervention AND in the training of 4-500 education assistants and resource teachers at the UNB-CEL Autism Training program (also established in response to our ASNB parent advocacy) a program recognized by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment as a Canadian leader in provision of evidence based intervention for autistic children.

I became aware of the meeting and asked to be able to attend.  The discussion went around the table and when it came to me and I tried to speak for the first time I was told by the person conducting the session that they wanted someone else to be given a chance to speak.  I did not understand her statement since I had not addressed the group but I did not object.  The discussion went around the table again and when I tried again to speak I was again told that  they wanted others to be given a chance to speak. I had said nothing during the discussion.  I asked if they wished me to leave and was told no and given a chance to speak although nothing I said was reflected in the report that was issued by Porter-Aucoin.

As an ASNB rep I advocated persistently for evidence based accommodation of autistic students including those who required learning outside the regular classroom.  During the MacKay review Mr. Porter grew visibly annoyed with me and another ASNB rep Dawn Bowie because of our position.  Mr. Porter informed us that "you people should be thankful for what you have".  I have never doubted since that day that Mr. Porter's attitude toward educating children with disabilities, even children with autism, a subject with which I and Mrs. Bowie were much more learned and experienced, must conform to his everybody in the classroom beliefs.  Neither Mr. Porter, nor NBACL paid officers or representatives have ever deviated one iota from his fanatical obsession with the regular classroom.

NBACL Dominance in the Alward-Carr Government

NBACL domination of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is clear and indisputable.  Apart from Alward transition adviser Gordon Porter, NBACL Official Krista Carr is the wife of Early Education and Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr. Minister Carr's brother Jack Carr, also a member of the governing Alward Conservatives, is a former NBACL employee.   Danny Soucy is the Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour and worked for both the New Brunswick Association for Community Living Inc. and the Canadian Association for Community Living from  1988 to his election in 2010.  Teachers who are most compliant with NBACL inclusion beliefs receive awards handed out by NBACL officials.

No one openly questions the philosophically based, non evidence based, policies of the NBACL which sets the Alward government's education policies.  Teachers, teacher aides/education assistants and other school personnel have told me off the record for many years, including during the MacKay and Ministerial Committee reviews that they sympathize with my concerns about accommodation of some children with autism, and other students who need an alternative place of learning, but they are unable to speak out.   The message is clear, those who conform to NBACL extreme inclusion doctrine will receive  awards handed out periodically by NBACL, those who don't ... well they have no choice but to conform.

Conclusion:

As a lawyer I have represented some students on the autism spectrum who have not been accommodated in the everybody in the classroom fantasy of the current Department of Education/NBACL administration. Some have suffered meltdowns for which they were blamed notwithstanding their known autism challenges.  Some   have been sent home under police escort and some have faced criminal charges.

The Autism Society of New Brunswick advocated during the MacKay and Ministerial Committee inclusion reviews for an evidence based approach to inclusive education which would see alternative learning arrangements for those who needed them.

In the current administration  philosophy trumps evidence based accommodation of individual needs.  Some students with autism disorders and other severe learning challenges are paying the price. 

No Meaningful Inclusion, No Community Living for NB Youth and Adults With Severe Autism Challenges

                                              Resigchouche Regional Hospital Centre

As an Autism Society New Brunswick representative I attended a meeting held at the Restigouche Regional Hospital Centre a few years ago to participate in a meeting to review the operations of the RRHC and to vote on its future, specifically whether to continue to operate or to close. I voted to continue to operate the RRHC. There were autistic adults who had been living there for many years.  No alternative in New Brunswick then existed for these adults with severe autism challenges.  The vote was conducted and reluctantly agreed to by me, and all other stakeholders present, because no alternative accommodations existed in NB for the residents of the facility.  Today  no alternative has been developed despite representations made to government over and over and over again.

Millions forWoodstock Civic Center But No Time to Answer a Simple Adult Autism Care Question, Facing Autism in NB January 25, 2012

As the title to the above comment I made on this blog on January 25, 2012 indicates money is not necessarily an obstacle to construction of a modern, humane adult autism care network.  Money despite challenging economic times has been available for projects such as the Civic Centre for residents of Premier Alward's riding. Money has also been spent on sending autistic youth and adults out of New Brunswick to receive the care we could provide in New Brunswick if outdated, non evidence based models of community and inclusion did not dominate the thinking of our government leaders, educators and service providers. As former Conservative cabinet minister Tony Huntjens indicates in his comment on the above post between $300,000-$600,000 annually has been spent on just 1 or 2 persons living at Spurwink, money that could be used to build a network of adult autism facilities here in NB:

I totally agree with you Harold. When I was minister of FCS we had to use facilities in the State of Maine at an annual cost of $300,000 per person. I had planned on pursuing the initiative you speak of using the State of Maine model...this would keep the autistic person closer to home in familiar surroundings, it would create employment so that the $600,000 now spent in Maine could be used to pay for these services at home. As you know, my efforts were derailed and I had to resign as minister. These financial facts I speak of need to be brought to the attention of the present government...perhaps they will see the light.

Keep up the fight and I personally wish you the very best of luck.

Tony Huntjens, January 2012

Tony Huntjens was a cabinet minister during the Lord government years and showed himself to be  a true friend of New Brunswick's autism community as he remains to this day.  Although not a member of the legislature, or the current  government he has continued to be a supporter of children and adults with autism. I attended a meeting with a minister of the current administration on adult care over a year ago in which Mr. Huntjen advocated forcefully  for autistic adults in New Brunswick. His efforts, and those of everyone who attended the meeting were not met with any results by this current government which believes that all needs of autistic children and adults can be addressed by feel good cliches about community and inclusion.  His comments 13 months ago on this site are an accurate reflection of what took place almost a decade ago.  The adult autism care he described then remains largely unchanged today.  

Things were so bad then that an autistic boy was housed on the grounds of a youth correctional centre, a jail, before being sent out of the country to the Spurwink facility in Maine where the $600,000.00 annually that Mr. Huntjens spoke of was being spent.   Matters have not improved under the current Alward-NBACL government.    Things were bad then and ... they are not one bit better today.  

Social policies including  early intervention, education and adult residential care policies are now set largely by the New Brunswick Association for Community Living  which has extremely close ties to the current government.  Despite the wonderful sounding name NBACL turns its head the other way when autistic children are excluded from New Brunswick schools and autistic adults are sent to live on general and psychiatric hospital wards ... if they have anywhere to live at all. 

The Autism Society New Brunswick made representations annually to the Lord, Graham, and  the Alward government,  to develop a modern, humane autism residential care network as described by autism expert Paul McDonnell a Psychology Professor Emeritus and practicing clinical psychologist who was instrumental in the autism progress New Brunswick made in the pre-Alward era.  

Unfortunately the Alward government has not seen the light as Mr. Huntjens had hoped.  New Brunswick adults with autism and their families have no reasonable basis on which to believe that their needs will be met, or that their voices will even be heard (1a,b),  during the reign of the current administration.

For New Brunswick youth and adults with severe autism challenges inclusion and community living are simply cliches uttered incessantly by those who pretend to care about their well being. 

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(1) (a) 

January 4 2012

Dear Honourable Premier, Honourable Ministers 

and Respected Recipients

Re: Adult Autism Care And Treatment - NB Continues To Fail Autistic Adults In Need  

I am the father of a 16 year old son with severe Autistic Disorder and "profound developmental" delays. He is now 6'1" with the strong, solid physique his father once had in younger days.  At some point in the future I will be too frail to provide the care he requires and ultimately will of course no longer be available at all to help him. I began my involvement in autism advocacy in New Brunswick approximately 13 years ago.  Along with other determined parents I fought hard, very hard, for early evidence based intervention for autistic preschoolers and for the means to deliver those interventions. I advocated strenuously for autism specific trained education assistants, teachers and resource teachers. Some success has been enjoyed because of the efforts of parents of autism in the area of preschool and school services. New Brunswick has even been cited as a model from which American authorities could learn by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment. The same can not be said, at all, when it comes to adult residential care and treatment 

I also advocated for  adjustments to the total inclusion education model in our schools.  My son's self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists declined and disappeared entirely once removed from the mainstream classroom where he was overstimulated, overwhelmed, frustrated and learning nothing because of his serious autism deficits. I have been a determined opponent of the excessive dominance in our schools and facilities of rigid, ideologically based inclusion and community models. This mindset discriminates against severely autistic persons by failing to accommodate their real needs.  Our children have, at times, been sacrifices to the vanity of a community movement which can not adjust to differing needs, experiences and expertise. I participated in regular disability committee meetings held by the Department of Education until they were disbanded, the MacKay review and the Ministerial Committe on Inclusive Education. Believe me or not but many teachers and teacher representatives have told me in confidence that they shared my aversion to the rigid inclusion model which has caused considerable suffering to some children and has disrupted the education of others unnecessarily. My son has been accommodated because of my advocacy and because educators who dealt directly with my son were conscientious, could see what he needed and acted in good faith to help him. I know that not all severely autistic children have been as fortunate.

Nowhere has the insistence on an inflexible and non evidence based inclusion model hurt autistic children and adults more though than in the area of  residential care and treatment as they move from childhood to adolescence and ultimately adulthood. What awaits is a model which includes a belief in "community" backed up by group homes with untrained, underpaid staffers at one end of a spectrum of care.  At the other end of that spectrum is the regional psychiatric care hospital in Campbellton. In between the two ends is a huge gap. What is need is at least one centrally located permanent residential care and treatment facility for severely autistic adults.  Such a facility could be modernized and based on existing models in the world. It could include the professional assistance needed to provide care for severely autistic adults in a setting designed to provide them with a decent life, with continuing education and recreation opportunities.  The facility should be based in Fredericton, not because I live here but because Fredericton is where our evidence based autism interventions and facilities began and grew.  It is centrally located and it has a naturalistic environment with many woodlands, trails, parks and outdoor areas together with indoor recreational and entertainment facilities. 

I realize the current economic realities in NB, in Canada and the world work against any consideration of the type of facility that is needed. But economic realities always weigh in and have done so over the last decade that I have been involved with trying to advocate for a reality based, evidence based residential facility for autistic adults in need of a permanent home when their parents age and pass on.  Ever present too, and just as big an obstacle, is the belief that citing "community" cliches will actually help those who are most in need of help. 

I have visited Centracare years ago with the father of a adult autistic son who resided there at the time. He told me of seeing his son dressed in a hospital "johnny shirt" in a room with a cement room and a liquid substance on the floor. I did not know whether to believe  him or not until we arrived and again found him in the same room in the same condition. At least one autistic youth and one adult have been sent to a facility in Maine at considerable financial expense and considerable emotional stress for families living on the other side of an international border.  I have had parents email me to tell me of their young adult autistic children hitting their head and having to wear self protective head gear at home while parents struggled to provide care. I was told of an autistic adult living on a general hospital ward for a time in Saint John. I am aware, as are we all, of the autistic youth who lived for a time on the grounds of the Miramichi youth correctional facility before being sent to the a Spurwink facility in Maine. 

In early intervention and in school services both Liberal and Conservative governments have been of some assistance, have helped to provide needed, evidence based services to some extent. I ask that the same spirit be applied to developing a modern, decent residential and treatment facility for severely challenged autistic adults in New Brunswick. Nothing has been done for years.  We have failed New Brunswick's severely challenged autistic adults. Community rhetoric has not helped.  Autistic adults need a place to live.  My son will need a place to live with access to professional autism care and autism trained staff, a place with educational and recreational dimensions to provide a decent life for him and others like him.

Please advise whether your government is considering helping autistic adults and is working on a modern, reality based model.  If that is not in the works, please say so straight up.

Respectfully,

Harold L Doherty, 

Conor's Dad

Fredericton (Nashwaaksis)

(1)(b)

Dubé, Hon. Madeleine (DH/MS)	1/5/12
to me

On behalf of Minister Dubé, I acknowledge receipt of your email.  Please be assured that it will be brought to her attention. 

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Minister. 

Yours, 

Lynda Godbout

Executive Secretary/Secrétaire exécutive

Minister's Cabinet/Cabinet de la ministre

Minister of Health/Ministre de santé

Tel: (506) 457-4800

Fax: (506)453-5442