Special needs kids out in the cold

The Government is facing a complaint to the Human Rights Commission over its treatment of children with special needs.

IHC, a charity supporting intellectually handicapped children and their families, has collected affidavits from 162 parents, 43 schools and 28 individuals and organisations.

Director of advocacy Trish Grant said students with disabilities are discriminated against because they can't access the school curriculum in the same way as students without disabilities.

"The problem is long-standing and systemic and can be attributed to inadequate resourcing by Government."

Among the cases forming the complaint is that of Alice Insley. By law she has the right to spend as much time at school as any other Kiwi child but in reality she can go for little more than half a week because of her special needs. The 6-year-old Kaikohe Christian School pupil has Down's syndrome and needs a teacher aide with her at all times.

Her mother, Gayleen, said Alice is "very capable of learning" and blames the Government, not the school.

Principal Ray Melrose backs Gayleen's complaint, saying the Government is not fulfilling its "obligations" by funding enough teacher aide hours.

The Ministry of Education declined to comment.

This month's Budget allocated an extra $51 million over four years to high-needs special education funding, under Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS), and almost $10.7 million over four years to support students with high health needs.

But only 3 per cent of children qualify for ORRS help and critics say funding should be extended to more members of the high-needs community.

The commission notified the ministry about the complaint in April. A mediation date is yet to be set.