Provision of Resources

Meeting Student Needs

The process of meeting student needs is:

1 Assessment

The student's learning needs are assessed in their usual learning environment through a variety of ways including observation, interviews, assessments and standardised tests. This information forms the basis for developing an Individual Education Programme (IEP) for the student.

2 Developing an Individual Education Programme (IEP)

This programme is developed in a meeting between the parent/caregiver, the student's teacher, the student (if they wish to attend) and specialists as appropriate. The IEP should be reviewed at least twice a year, involving all of those on the student's support team.

3 Accessing the Resources

The school has been provided with all of the information on the Government's special education initiatives and application procedures.

Special Education Policy Framework

Support for Young Children with Moderate, High and Very High Special Education Needs:

Early Intervention - support for young children from birth, or the time that they are identified as having special education needs and throughout a successful transition to school. Support is also available to families and early childhood education centres.

Support for Students with High and Very High Special Education Needs:

Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS) - funding for extra teaching, specialist programmes, therapy, consumables and education support. Students are verified for the ORRS by a Ministry-appointed panel as having very high, high or combined moderate needs which are likely to be ongoing throughout their schooling years. When it is not clear if a student's needs will be ongoing at the same level throughout their schooling, that student is placed in the reviewable part of the schemes.

Students verified under ORRS generate funding at two levels (high and very high needs). This funding is pooled to support students according to their specific needs. It is used for any therapies required, specialist support such as a psychologist and teacher aide support. Schools receive 0.2 (very high needs) or 0.1 (high needs and combined moderate needs) of full-time equivalent teacher time for each student who is ORRS verified on the school roll.

Speech-Language Initiative - therapy usually provided at school for students with high communication needs. This initiative is for students with communication difficulties who are not funded under ORRS. Training courses are also run for teachers so they can identify communication difficulties and arrange programmes to meet student's needs.

Severe Behaviour Initiative - advice and specialist support for students with severe behaviour difficulties, their schools and families. The initiative is directed at students with the most severe and challenging behaviours.

Support for these students and their teachers, families and whānau is provided by the Behaviour Support Teams. There are a number of these teams around the country and team members include education psychologists, special education advisors and teachers with significant experience in working with students with behaviour difficulties.

A second component of this initiative is the Centres for Extra Support. These operate differently from region to region, however, all the facilities offer short-term support (up to 40 weeks) for the small number of students with behaviour difficulties who cannot be managed within their local schools.

Supplementary Learning Support (SLS) - aims to better support 1500 students with special education needs, including students with significant - and ongoing - learning needs.

Supplementary Learning Support provides an individual student with access to a learning support teacher as well as some additional one-on-one specialist support. The initiative involves Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), learning support teachers, Ministry specialists, and classroom teachers working closely together to provide more coordinated support to children and young people with special education needs.

High Health Needs - special education support. There are two parts to this initiative:

1. Regional Hospital Health Schools - these schools have been established in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and have responsibility for managing a teaching service for students with high health needs in their respective regions. The criteria to access the hospital schools are ten or more consecutive days absence from school due to high health needs and/or six or more admissions to hospital in one year and/or a total of 40 school days absence because of high health needs.

2. School High Health Needs Fund (SHHNF) - this fund provides resourcing for teacher aide care and supervision for students with high health needs so they can attend school safely.

Support for Students with Moderate Special Education Needs:

Special Education Grant (SEG) - funding for all schools as part of their operational funding to be used for special education programmes. The SEG is provided to all state schools to assist them in supporting students with moderate to high levels of learning and/or behaviour difficulties. The SEG is allocated on the basis of a school's roll number and decile rating and may be spent on professional development, staffing, new resources and materials to support students with special education needs who do not receive assistance through any other special education initiative.

Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) - specially trained teachers who support and work within school settings to meet the needs of students with moderate learning and/or behaviour difficulties. These positions are managed by a cluster of schools.

Resource Teachers: Literacy (RT:Lit) - specially trained teachers who support and work in schools, assisting staff to meet the needs of students with reading and writing difficulties. This initiative is not specific to special education. It is part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.

Specialised Services - occupational therapy and/or physiotherapy. Advisors on Deaf Children/Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf (AODC/ITOD) and Resource Teachers of the Visually Impaired provide an itinerant service to students with moderate vision and hearing impairments. The Ministry contracts a range of service providers throughout New Zealand to provide physiotherapy and occupational therapy for students with moderate physical disabilities who do not meet the ORRS criteria.

Learning Support Funding - funding for clusters of schools that can be used in conjunction with specialist teachers.

Enhanced Programme Fund (EPF) - funding that schools with a disproportionate number of students with moderate needs may apply for.

Enhanced Programme Fund is a supplementary grant which applies to a group programme, not an individual student. The students must not be receiving targeted funding support from any other source. Where there is a number of students in a cluster who meet the criteria, the cluster may make an expression of interest for EPF.

Other support available may include:

• Transport assistance - a subsidy or allowance for taxi or bus travel between home and school.
• Property modifications - capital works such as alterations or additions to school property to enable children and young people with special education needs to enter and carry out regular activities within state schools.
• Assistive technology - a wide range of tools for students to help them access the curriculum.

These initiatives have been supported by research, monitoring and evaluation, as well as professional development for boards of trustees, principals and teachers and teacher aides.

Information about each of these initiatives is available from your school, Ministry of Education local offices, publications or on the Ministry of Education website: www.minedu.govt.nz

Effective Resource Management

Boards will receive special education funding from the Ministry of Education in distinct streams:

• Direct (or indirect if your school isn't a fundholder) individual funding for all students in the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS).
• Operational funding, particularly the Special Education Grant (SEG).
• Staffing, such as .1 and .2 teacher time to support ORRS students, Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), Resource Teachers: Literacy (RT:Lit), occupational therapist and/or physiotherapist time.
• School property, including modification as agreed.
• School transport assistance, available to students with special education needs who require it for safety and/or mobility reasons.
• Assistive technology for individual students.

The level of operational funding is set to ensure equitable distribution nationally and within school settings. It is provided on the expectation that schools will use resources to meet the needs of all their students, valuing student diversity. Many boards of trustees supplement this resourcing with locally raised funds and activities.