By Laura Wakely
BRIMBANK, Melton and Wyndham have the highest number of students with autism and the least amount of education options for them, a report has revealed.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland, said the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Education Provision Review, obtained under Freedom of Information, revealed that education provisions for ASD students were “failing families” in the West.
“The increasing demand for services, as well as community expectations, are not being met.” Ms Hartland said.
“The community consultation reveals the frustration of families.”
The documents show the results of a Grant Thornton study, which looks at the number of children with an ASD who are supported under the Program for Students with a Disability (PSD) in the West.
They reveal the number of students with an ASD category of the PSD in the West has grown by 15 per cent over the past four years and that the West has the second highest population of students with an ASD in Victoria, with 17 per cent.
At least 75 per cent, or 500, of these students reside in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham and this number is expected to increase by another 220 students by 2015.
ASD students are predominantly educated at the Western Autistic School in Laverton, which the Government recently announced would become the west’s first P-12 autistic school, and students in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham are required to travel “significant distances” to access ASD specific services, with two general specialist schools in Brimbank and one each in Wyndham and Melton.
“These LGAs do not contain a relative proportion of support services,” the report states.
In comparison, Hobsons Bay has the Western Autistic School as well as an ASD inclusion support program to cater for its nine per cent of the ASD student population.
Maribrynong has two general specialist schools for its seven per cent and Moonee Valley also has a Western Autistic School campus, a general specialist school, inclusion support program and baseroom, which is a program auspiced by a specialist school.
Ms Hartland said the “true scale of the problem” is not revealed, as only those receiving funding under the PSD are included in the study.
Western Metropolitan MP Bernie Finn said it was “no surprise” that the need in the West was strong.
“We could easily spend $100 million dollars and we’d still be behind the eight ball – that’s how bad things have become,” Mr Finn said.
He said the P-12 school for ASD students was not a complete answer but was a “giant step in the right direction”.
