Every day, wonderful educators accompany toddlers on their journey to kindergarten and the school of life. In elementary school, passionate teachers make their class a collaborative learning space. These women – they are mainly women – inspire me, because they cling to their mission despite a stiff 0-12-year-old educational network, with more and more children with special needs.
According to the Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec, more than 7% of children are affected by a developmental language disorder (TDL), or almost two children per class. According to the Quebec Association of Neuropsychologists, 5 to 7% of children experience attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD / HD). According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the overall prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among 5-17 year olds is 1 in 66. One in four kindergarten children experience difficulty in at least one aspect of its development (Quebec survey on the development of kindergarten children 2017). And children living in vulnerable situations are more affected.
The early childhood and school communities unfortunately do not do everything to help these children. Access to universal and equitable education, human resource management and funding are governed by rigid standards and endless processes.
Even today, some children do not have the opportunity to go to a childcare center or daycare for lack of transportation to get there. Why would there not be a travel plan in the educational childcare network? Buses, as for school service centers? Shouldn’t employers also be doing their part by setting up more daycare centers in the workplace?
To obtain the allowance for the integration of a disabled child in daycare, the child who presents a condition (language, behavior, adaptation, mobility) having an impact on his learning must be registered in a childcare center or a subsidized childcare service. Otherwise, the allowance is not available. And if by chance your child attends a CPE, prepare to face an administrative course which requires you “a certificate of the situation of the child delivered by a professional”, that is to say a doctor, occupational therapist, speech therapist, psychologist, etc., in short, a specialist that very few people have access to at the moment. For a speech therapist, you can wait more than a year in the public and eight months in the private sector before having a first appointment.
These barriers are the same at school. You must provide an assessment report for your child, without even knowing whether your approach will bear fruit since support staff resources in schools are scarce. Your child will probably not get immediate support, even if he – proof in hand – really needs it.
As for the parents who are not fortunate enough to know how to fill out forms, those who work tirelessly to make ends meet, those who find it difficult to accept that their child needs more support, they are pointed out instead of being shouldered. And in the meantime, their child does not have the necessary support.
What happened to the impetus for democratizing education, instilled in the early 1960s by the Parent commission and in the 1990s by the creation of the network of childcare centers? The educational program “Welcoming the early childhood” of the Ministry of the Family, the “Strategic Plan 2019-2023” of the Ministry of Education or even “Ensuring an equitable, inclusive and quality education for all” by 2030, such as that endorsed by the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada to meet the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, all are attractive, but on the ground, the reality is abysmal; there is a considerable lack of resources.
Are we not capable, in 2021, of designing an educational network in which all children can have access to full development and education, that is to say that includes daily help to offer them all the chances of success? And without asking for an evaluation beforehand! Let us increase the multidisciplinary teams in the establishments. Let’s put more guides in the class groups. Let’s build bridges with the community network and surrounding professionals.
Fortunately, most educators and teachers are holding up. But for how long?