School suspensions: High rate of kindy kids with disabilities pushed out of class

A mother has revealed her son, 6, who has autism spectrum disorder, has been “pushed out” of kindergarten up to 20 times, as data reveals 424 kindy kids were suspended from school in the first half of 2021 — with 80 per cent suffering a disability.

Anne’s six-year-old son ­received his first suspension notice after just six weeks in kindergarten.

Since then he has been given between 15 and 20 “push outs”, which is not an official suspension but means she has to keep him home for a day or two.

“Anne”, a Sydney mother of two who has asked to ­remain anonymous to protect her child, said her son had autism spectrum disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

“They did try to suspend him,” she said.

“He received a suspension warning due to disruptive behaviour in March.

“I explained my child has a disability so we need to make sure adjustments are in place to support him and that might mean changes to the environment or extra ­supervision.

“He has not been officially suspended – I guess because it would be discrimination to suspend someone because of behaviours that relate to their disability – but now we are in a situation where we are getting what is called a push out.

“I get calls every week to come and pick him up and I am told to keep him home for a day or two.

“That‘s happened probably 15 to 20 times this year.

Anne’s six-year-old son has been “pushed out” of kindergarten up to 20 times. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“So while he’s not offici­ally suspended, he is being sent home and excluded from his education because the supports are not in place to meet his needs.

“It is a real shame because he is so smart and has so much potential and his learning needs are not being met.

“They’re just calling me to take him home.”

Children on the autism spectrum attract funding for the school to hire support staff to help them in the classroom and allow the teacher to work with other students. But that has not helped Anne’s son.

“It’s such a shame to see him being sent home because the environment at school doesn’t meet his needs,” she said.

“And he does come with funding – the department provides the school with funding for every child enrolled with a disability.

“The purpose is to use the funding for learning support staff, behaviour support plans and other resources to help meet that child’s add­itional needs, but that is not happening; he is just being sent home.

“We’ve not see an improvement on how the school manages it.”

According to the Department of Education, suspensions in both primary and secondary schools can occur for persistent or serious misbehaviour, physical violence, criminal behaviour and possession of a weapon.

Anne’s son’s behaviour does not fall into any of those categories.

“His behaviour is pretty disruptive,” she said.

“Some physical behaviours like knocking over ­objects and throwing things. Lots of children do that but when you have a child with autism and sensory processing you need to be able to see the warning signs a child is getting overwhelmed and have a safety plan to remove them to a calm environment.

“In an ideal world he would have a student learning support officer; the funding for kids with disabilities allows the school to bring in support ­officers. In an ideal world someone would be sitting with him and noting when he is ­getting overwhelmed and take him to the calm-down tent so we don’t get a flare-up.

“I imagine some people reading this think if this child, disability or not, who has ­unsafe behaviour, we should get rid of that child.

“But we need to think how do we upskill and support that child to be able to be included rather than being pushed out.”

Anne has recently made the decision to pull her son out of the public school.

“He is now att­ending   a behavi­our school,” she said.

“I’ve been against segregation but it is the only option if I want my child’s exceptional abilities suppor­ted.”

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Kids with disabilities suspended at high rate

There were 424 kindergarten students suspended from school in the first half of 2021, with 80 per cent of those suffering a disability.

In 2020, 961 kindergarten students aged five and six were suspended – 73 per cent of them with a diagnosed ­disability.

Now serious questions are being asked as to why so many children are being kicked out of class at the beginning of their education.

University of Newcastle education lecturer David Roy, who pushed for the 2017 ­inquiry into disability and education, was very concerned with those numbers, especially given the final report’s main recommendation was that “a child is to be educated in an inclusive mainstream setting, unless there are compelling ­individual reasons for other arrangements”.

“There is some unconscious bias going on,” Dr Roy said.

“Suspension is supposed to be a last report and it is not if we are doing it to kindy kids. It’s disturbing and we know there are attitudinal issues with schools regarding disability.

“Suspension doesn’t do anything, it just sets a child up for a future path of failure. They fall behind in their learning so they therefore misbehave because they are not coping and it becomes a cycle. It doesn’t work.”

The 2020 data shows there was a total of 66,604 school suspensions, with 33,608 of those with a diagnosed disability, Dr Roy said.

Dr Roy said children with a disability in the primary sector represent more than 70 per cent of the suspensions but made up only 20 per cent of the population.

Education expert Dr David Roy has questioned why so many children are being suspended.

“Children with a disability seem to be punished and we need to know why,” he said.

A Sydney mum of two boys aged 10 and eight, both with ASD and ADHD, who asked not to be named to protect her children, said her youngest had been sent home in kindy.

“He couldn’t concentrate and felt so bad about himself because even at six he could see the other kids were doing things he couldn’t do and he was getting into trouble,” she said. “Suspension is seen as a shameful punishment and a mark on their record.

“I think (the new figures are) appalling; these are neurobiological conditions, not a behaviour condition.”

Louise Kuchel from Parents for ADHD Advocacy Australia said there was a crisis with these suspension figures.

“Suspension from kindy goes to the detriment of the child’s self-esteem and does not achieve anything positive,” she said.

A department spokes­woman said it had recently ­developed a Student Behaviour Strategy which included a new “expert workforce of ­behaviour specialists to provide advice, co-ordination and case management”.

“We are also introducing new and enhanced professional learning, guidance and developed tools for all teachers to build their capacity and confidence to manage student behaviour,” she said.

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