The New Brunswick Association of Community Living now determines inclusion and disabilities policies in the New Brunswick government with immediate repercussions in the  Department of Education and Early Childhood Development ... to the detriment of many children with autism disorders.  While always very influential in NB government education decisions the NBACL is now effectively in charge of disability and inclusion policies in New Brunswick schools. The ramifications for children and students severely affected by autism disorders and intellectual disabilities are very serious.  Independent, quality, autism specific training has been abandoned in favor of in house training and more and more pressure will be brought to bear on district and school officials to require all children receive instruction in a mainstream classroom even those for whom the mainstream classroom causes physical harm and disrupts their learning and development.

In the decade preceding the election of the Alward government New Brunswick made many gains in providing providing evidence based autism interventions to New Brunswick preschoolers and students over the decade preceding the Alward government election.  Those gains were provided via UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training, a program recognized by US autism experts David Celiberti and Eric Larsson as a model for other Canadian and some US jurisdictions.  Those of us who advocated for these autism specific services were opposed strenuously by the very well connected and influential New Brunswick Association for Community Living.  Now, under the Alward government the NBACL is even more influential. NBACL actually sets Alward government disability policy and ensures compliance by Education officials from the Deputy Minister level down to the teachers and aides that deliver the programs.  Along the way the UNB-CEL Autism training has been dropped in favor of in house "training" and a renewed push for dumping all children in the mainstream classroom without regard for whether the classroom is the appropriate learning environment for them.  There is no room for flexibility or accommodation of children and students with severe autism disorders with intellectual disabilities in the NBACL Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. 

New Brunswick Premier David Alward has publicly acknowledged the role of the New Brunswick Association of Community Living related organizations in setting inclusion and disability policy in New Brunswick as was made clear on the community living organizations' IRIS site. IRIS is the Institute for Research and Development and Inclusion in Society. It purports to be the "research" branch of Community Living Assocations across Canada. The IRIS board of directors consists of present and former Community Living Association officials from accross Canada including former NBACL official Lorraine Silliphant.  In February 2012 IRIS spent a week indoctrinating high ranking New Brunswick education officials including Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers in the Community Living Association philosophy based policies of full mainstream classroom inclusion as was bragged about on the IRIS web site:

"New Brunswick Premier David Alward issued a letter Friday February 4th to all participants in the ‘Policy Making for Inclusion – Leadership Development Program’ that will be delivered in Fredericton by IRIS February 6-10 to senior officials with the Government of New Brunswick. The program is designed to assist policy makers achieve the government’s platform commitment to “enable New Brunswickers with disabilities to actively participate in all aspects of society and take their rightful place as full citizens.” With Deputy Ministers, Assistant Deputy Ministers, Human Resources Directors and Policy/Program Directors from across government participating in the week-long series of leadership development workshops, major strides will be taken towards creating a public service in New Brunswick ready and able to deliver on the government commitment to people with disabilities. In his letter, Premier Alward thanked The Institute “for developing this program to inform our public servants on the latest research on disability and inclusion…” A core resource for the program is the guide to Disability and Inclusion Based Policy Analysis just published by The Institute."

Even without the indoctrination of high ranking government officials in a week long session of Community Living policies the NBACL exercised a dominant role in the NB government.  NBACL official Krista Carr is the wife of Early Education and Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr.  Minister Carr's brother Jack Carr, also a member of the governing Alward Conservatives, is a former NBACL employee. Gordon Porter, an icon of the NBACL and CACL organizations, was a member of the Alward transition team and is now conducting yet another inclusion review with the aid of NBACL friendly team members.  Only views consistent with the NBACL total inclusion beliefs are tolerated.  In the past high school principals have been trained by NBACL officials who handed out awards annually to teachers who exemplify best (as in NBACL compliant) inclusion policies.

Admittedly the cliches and buzz words sound good. Community Living Association spokespersons never tire of telling us how awful things were in the bad old days before they changed everything for the better.  The NBACL, the CACL, IRIS and other CLA groups never, ever, acknowledge the evidence of the harm they have caused to some people by their fanatical obsessions like total classroom inclusion for all.   My son with severe autistic disorder and intellectual disability suffered in a mainstream classroom.  Conscientious educators locally, who actually work with and know my son have accommodated him with a flexible inclusion model, a model which is now at risk in the NBACL Department of Education and Early Childhood Education era.  The NBACL aristocracy that sets and enforces inclusion policy does not mention evidence like my son's case, that contradicts their everyone in the classroom philosophy.

So too the total inclusion extremists pay no attention to severely impaired adults who can not live in an ad hoc, loosely monitored group home system make no mention of the adults with autism disorders and intellectual disabilities living in psychiatric facilities in NB.  Instead they pretend all is swell, give each other awards, pat each other on the back incessantly and fight efforts to establish or even discuss an intermediate level of residential care with professionally trained assistants and higher levels of security for those who need such interventions.

There is no evidence to support the policies of the NBACL which now sets inclusion policies for New Brunswick government departments including Education and Early Childhood development. The evidence based consideration of the  best interests of individual students is in serious, serious threat of extinction in the NBACL dominated Alward government era. Specialized training such as that provided by the UNB-CEL Autism training program is now gone.  Flexible inclusion policies such as that which have accommodated my son with autism specific instruction will be targeted.

The NBACL is in charge.

Jasmine Hall of Online Colleges informed me that they had composed a list of 60 essential twitter feeds for following autism education and that Facing Autism in New Brunswick is on it (No. 11).  For anyone tweeting or following tweets of autism education take a look.  It seems to be a pretty good sampling of perspectives on autism education issues, including some with whom I disagree on important autism issues.  Of course TannersDad, who is probably autism's biggest tweeter, was listed (No. 19). (I don't think the number a tweeter is listed at signifies status of any kind or TannersDad would have been listed much higher than mine).

If your child with autism is moving into the school system you may want a trained TA to continue the progress achieved in the pre-school years. If your autistic child is already in the school system and you believe he/she would benefit from the help of an autism trained TA these tips might also help. No matter where you are in New Brunswick whether in Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton, Bathurst Miramichi or Edmundston do not hestitate to email me at AutismRealityNB@gmail.com if you have a question.

I  have been an active member of autism advocacy  organizations in New Brunswick for over a dozen years. I say advocacy because the focus of   efforts I have been involved with have been to obtain effective, evidence based help for children and adults with autism.  I have received no salary or income of any kind for my autism advocacy and I have never sought a pat on the head from government officials (not that they would have wanted to anyway) Mostly I am the father of two boys one of whom is severely  autistic. Like everyone else, I am continually advocating  for a trained Education Assistant to work with my autistic son.  

I once again offer an article I first published in 2006 in the Autism Society New Brunswick newsletter to give parents some ideas to consider in advocating for an Education Assistant for their child. It is offered at a time when I believe it will be increasingly difficult to obtain a quality autism trained Education Assistant to work with a New Brunswick autistic student.

In Conor's case his mother and I have sought Education Assistants with the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program.  This New Brunswick developed program has received recognition from international autism experts like Dr. David Celiberti and Dr. Eric Larsson. Between 500 and 600 TA's as they were then called, were trained at UNB-CEL before the Department of Education in order to reduce costs and increase department control over training of assistants, abandoned the program in favor of a watered down version taught in house without the quality and integrity assurances provided by the UNB-CEL training.  

Whatever you hope for in the Education Assistant working with your child it will be more difficult now with cuts being made this year in the numbers of Education Assistants.  Unfortunately the  new collective agreement entered into between CUPE Local 2745 and the Province of New Brunswick continues the promotion of adult interests, over the interests of children with autism and other disabilities requiring accommodation.  The situation is worse now with the Alward government and its unofficial Education Minister Gordon Porter and his unofficial branch of the Education Department ... the New Brunswick Association for Community Living. 

Despite doing good work in many areas, and making many  positive contributions, Mr. Porter and NBACL have for decades  promoted a mainstream classroom inclusion for all model of inclusive education and have resisted accommodations sought by NB autism advocates.  They have at times resisted with open hostility efforts by autism advocates seeking learning accommodation in separate quieter areas of local schools from autism trained TA's.  Their ideas have changed or modernized very little during the past decades.   

There is currently a review of New Brunswick's inclusive education system being conducted by Mr. Porter and those who have participated in NBACL.  The review will undoubtedly result in a report which confirms their decades old ideology, cuts costs to the Department of Education, and protects the interests of untrained  Education Assistants over the interests of children with autism.  There will probably be fewer and fewer Education Assistants with quality autism training. They will increasingly be pressured to work in mainstream classrooms which will not necessarily be appropriate for some students with autism disorders. Mainstream classroom inclusion will make it less likely a student with autism will receive an EA  with proper autism training and the individual instruction required in some instances. 

These factors will make it very easy for local education authorities to justify, even glorify, cutting proper training and retention of autism trained Education Assistants. There is a perfect storm brewing and parents will have to fight even  harder to ensure their autistic children receive the education services they require. 

Following are some tips I originally posted in an Autism Society New Brunswick newsletter in 2006. They are my advice as a parent (not as legal advice), and as general information.  For those seeking help in obtaining an Education Assistant you may want to give them some consideration. You may also want to seek     assistance from other parents with an autism advocacy background. I did. They were a big help in getting an   Education Assistant  for our  son.

The Vancouver Sun reports that a six year old child with an autism disorder, that's right six years old, was removed from a Langley, British Columbia school after a Worksafe BC investigation agreed with a complaint by staff who refused to work at the school because of the danger posed by the six year old autistic boy.  The article points out that the staff at the school who refused to work with the young child have no training in something called "the Crisis Response Plan Protocol".  The WSBC report also quoted a Langley area Teacher Association President who commented on the lack of adequate "special education" training for teachers.

Unfortunately not all districts and schools educating autistic children have been interested in having autism trained teachers and aides working with autistic children.  Here in New Brunswick we still have autistic children being sent home from schools because school staff are not properly trained in how to educate and management the behavioral challenges of autistic children.  The problem has been compounded in New Brunswick by the extreme inclusion views of Gordon Porter, currently a special adviser to Education Minister Jody Carr, and the architect of New Brunswick's extreme inclusion model which forcefully encourages all children to be dumped in the mainstream classroom whether or not it is in their best interests to do so.

Autism disorders are neurological disorders which are still not taken seriously by some educators including, apparently, those in BC, and of course New Brunswick's own Gordon Porter. The best interests of autistic children are simply not always on the agenda for cost cutting school administrators or ideologues who believe that only they understand what is best for all school children.

Provide credible autism specific training for those who work with autistic children? Accommodate them, if the best interests of the specific child require a quieter learning environment for all or parts of the school day? Heaven forbid.

Far easier to blame the autistic child, keep him or her out of school, and forget about the child's best interests.

Imposing a standard, namely that the inclusive classroom meets all needs, is a perception not based on reality and is stereotypical. In other words, the standard takes the position that one environment meets the needs of all special needs children. By its very nature, such a standard is discriminatory, as was made clear by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Meiorin, Grismer, Law and Mercier decisions.

Presented by Yude M. Henteleff, C.M., Q.C.
to the
C.A.C.L. NATIONAL SUMMIT ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
NOVEMBER 24, 2004

The above document by Yude Hentelleff  QC should be mandatory reading for Educators and Human Rights Commission and Tribunal  members across Canada.  Unfortunately that does not appear to be the case particularly in New Brunswick where the extreme full mainstream classroom inclusion model has been pushed relentlessly by Gordon Porter, the New Brunswick Association for Community Living and senior officials in the Department of Education.  

Meanwhile some children, including some autistic children, for whom the mainstream classroom is not the right learning environment are forced into situations where they injure themselves, or others, in order to get out of an environment which is not the right option for them; an environment that overwhelms and harms therm.  My son, fortunately, has been accommodated in a separate learning environment for his primary ABA based instruction in our neighborhood schools with time spent in common areas of the school for other activities where he does get to interact with other students.  Conor was removed from the mainstream classroom, at our request, after he came home every day with bite marks on his hands and wrists.  He has been well accommodated by our schools and our school district. Other students for whom the mainstream classroom is not the right option have not always been so fortunate.