Hello Shahar

Yes, this exists here in British Columbia, Canada.  I work as an Occupational Therapist consultant in the Schools and our children here go through a similar process.  The "inclusion committee" here are school district learning support teachers who apply to the school district for funds for children with Autism.  The school district has a set amount of dollars to provide based on the information they are given on the level of functioning of the child with Autism.  In some cases where the child is functioning quite low, they will get enough funding for an "Educational Assistant" who is with them 1:1 for the school day.  Often, these are children, unfortunately cannot tolerate being in the regular classroom very much.  There are also children with Autism who are functioning higher who spend most of their day in the regular classroom and in those instances, the Educational Assistant (EA) is there in a larger capacity to support several children in the classroom.  I agree that there are some concerns with this practice, but I have seen some positives also.  Some children will become "prompt dependent", meaning that they get so used to a 1:1 assistant that they cannot initiate any task on their own.  Having  a classroom EA allows the child with higher functioning autism, develop some independence and task initiation.  A classroom EA also allows for them to work in smaller groups with the children she is supporting (usually 2-3 higher functioning children with Autism) and while working on academics, she can also work on social skills in this smaller group.  Had she been assigned 1:1, this opportunity would not present itself.  I hope you find this information helpful.  Adelle

Hello! In Argentina we use both types of assistance not only in cases of ASD. According jurisdictions, the presence of this support can be legally inhibited. In my experience as an educational psychologist , in classrooms with one teacher in charge, the teacher support is a valuable resource for inclusion. As this resource is not provided by the state, by law firms provide prepaid medicine when the child disability trust a certificate issued by a state board.

I hope that helps, regards

Silvana

Hallo 

I do not know why it is called covert aide (covert from/for?), but I know by experience what Adelle means and I ask myself why we do no merge both systems.

In Belgium we are starting to work with co-teaching and are implementing more cross-overs between regular and special needs schools. This gives, in combination with coaching 'reflective practitioners', a boost to inclusion because the work of teacher aide merges in some cases with this of co-teacher. Both are able to participate in de wellbeing of the class and each child with a wide variety of skills. In my own experience as coach for co-teaching this works far better for all children and the class than the in some situations 'excluding' inclusion with a 1:1 assignment. There is less stigmatisation and other children are less bothered bij being also helped by a teachter for 'special' children. On the other hand it gives aides possibilities to show their regular teaching skills. If it could legally be worked out that the received 'speciale assisitance' ours (in Flanders from the VAPH) would merge with the envelop from education, a very large and mixed group of children with diagnoses would received  regular and normal support for al kinds of educational and behavioural stresses and strains. A lot of schools give witness to the fact that they and all the children benefit from the experience.

It is maybe seen from an other angel, but it supports the general inclusion idea of using in the first place more generic forms of help (the special need teacher/co-tacher) before engaging in personal assistance (what is absolutely needed in some cases).

Regards

Linda