Sask. special support classrooms mean segregation for neurodiverse students, critics say

The Saskatchewan government is set to expand a pilot program designed to minimize disruptive behaviours in school classrooms, but some are concerned that it will segregate children with disabilities from and harm their development.

Dubbed specialized support classrooms, the initiative started as a pilot in just eight schools, and will soon be expanded to 200 across the province.

The program has drawn criticism from groups like Inclusion Saskatchewan, which warns that isolating children from their peers may harm their development.

“These classes start at Grade 1, which is quite early to start excluding,” said Brittany Acton, director of initiatives at Inclusion Saskatchewan, a group that advocates for greater inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities.

“It sets people up to have that as their norm for the rest of their lives, so when they aren’t able to get a job or be supported in adulthood, that’s the norm.”

While the support classroom model comes directly from the provincial Ministry of Education, how to actually use the classrooms is up to the individual school boards.

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Saskatoon Public School Division Superintendent Colleen Norris views the initiative as a way to support students in need of additional help before reintegrating them into regular classrooms.

She’s adamant that they just represent a place of transition in what may be a difficult day for one of their students — not a place to keep children long-term.

“This is a place where they can go to build some skills to become regulated, to gather some strategies for how they might re-enter the classroom when they're ready,” said Norris.

But some parents say pulling the students out can make it even harder to reintegrate.

Shery Zwack, a mother of a child with Down syndrome and autism, said that her daughter’s development has suffered due to isolation.

“She really struggled,” said Zwack.

“Her verbal skills regressed substantially, and she was isolated. We feel this is not an adequate situation for any family across Saskatchewan.”

The provincial government defended the program, citing positive results from the pilot.

In a statement to CTV News, it emphasized that “the high-impact individualized supports offered by these classrooms have already produced positive results with divisions who are currently participating.”

In Saskatoon Public Schools, one test site for the program, teachers told administrators they were primarily concerned about three behaviours — task avoidance, disruptive behaviour, and elopement, or leaving a designated area without permission or supervision.

According to Norris, they conducted a survey after the pilot showed disruptive behaviour was reduced by 10 per cent, and teachers no longer expressed any concern with students avoiding tasks.

Norris says they reported these positive results to the ministry. 

-With files from Rory MacLean