A New Brunswick mother says the school system is failing to provide adequate supports to help her daughter succeed.
Laura Tarr and her family relocated from British Columbia in the hope that a fresh start would be good for her daughter, but she says she’s encountering the same issues she faced before the move.
“A couple months in and I feel like I’m right back where I was,” she said.
Tarr’s teen daughter has ADHD and has trouble regulating her emotions, which can lead to outbursts often punctuated with swearing. Recent incidents have put her on what’s known as a “partial day plan” where she only attends school in the morning. The school said they would re-evaluate after spring break.
Other than suggesting she contact provincial child and youth mental health services, Tarr says the school has not offered any other supports to help deal with the behaviourial issues.
“She doesn’t throw desks around or hurt people or anything. She has a hard time regulating and that comes from her ADHD. The school needs to figure out how to work with these kids,” she said.
New Brunswick child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock raised concerns over the practice of partial day plans during an appearance at a legislative committee last week. He said too many students are being excluded from the classroom and not being provided with resources to address the problematic behaviour or ensure they continue to receive their education while out of the common learning environment.
The Education Act gives school-aged children the right to education, and Lamrock says the government is violating the law by allowing students to be regularly sent home without plans to address their behaviour and ensure continued education.
“It is appropriate at times, if you are going to help that child return to the common learning environment, to give them services outside of the classroom, but you cannot send them home to nothing and the department is breaking its own law repeatedly,” Lamrock said.
Tarr worries that the use of a partial day plan in her daughter’s case isn’t being backed up with additional support to help her better learn how to regulate her emotions.
“This wasn’t, let’s go half days to help her,” she said.
“It became very clear that it was like let’s just get her out of the school so we don’t have to deal with her anymore.”
Tarr’s daughter is now receiving weekly counselling, but Tarr worries her daughter will remain on half days even after spring break. She says that the system seems to struggle with how to deal with kids dealing with ADHD, labelling them as troublemakers rather than providing the help and support they need.
“I feel like more resources are needed, but I feel more strongly about the education, the education around the disability,” she said.
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