CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Making the transition to kindergarten: Shifting responsibilities

Sending a child off to kindergarten is a big step for any family, but undoubtedly so for families whose children need extra help to make the transition because of their special needs. Almost 4% of Ontario children entered senior kindergarten with recognized special needs in the period between 2005 and 2007, according to teacher reports. The situation is complex. Under the definition of special needs is a broad range of disorders affecting behaviour, communication, physical or intellectual development. Children often contend with a combination of problems rather than one single condition, which requires tailor-made, flexible support. Children with special needs may also have above average abilities in certain areas, adding to the complexity of providing appropriate resources to enable them to adjust to school.

In 2001 more than 60% of children with special needs in Canada were integrated into regular classes, another 29% attended a mix of regular and special education classes, while only about 9% were in special education classes exclusively. Integration of children with a range of special needs into regular community classrooms has changed family expectations and schools' responsibilities. Family concerns are accentuated by the fact that services to help special needs children shift from the responsibility of health or social services agencies to boards of education once children enter kindergarten. So additional resources or special aides already in place at child care centres or pre-schools do not automatically accompany children into the kindergarten classroom. Families must take an active role in planning their child's transition from home or pre-school into the formal school system.

How have families adapted to the challenges around school entry? How effective are current procedures for helping children with special educational needs move into the school system? Some preliminary answers come from our research with families of special needs children entering Ontario kindergartens for the first time from 2005 through 2007. Prior knowledge came largely from U.S. research, which may not be entirely relevant to Canadian families. By collecting data from both families anticipating the transition from pre-school to kindergarten, and families whose children had already made the shift, we were able to identify some strengths and weaknesses in the existing process.

The situation in Hamilton

Within the Hamilton school board, about 85-115 children with special educational needs start kindergarten each year. Boys identified with special needs outnumber girls by a 3:1 ratio. A significant percentage live with a lone parent, similar to the nearly 20% of all children under 5 years old who are in lone parent families in Canada.

Two groups of parents with special needs children participated in the research: one group with pre-kindergarten children and a second similar group whose children had already made the transition into kindergarten. A majority of parents had at least a high school level education.

Assessment of children's developmental levels came from direct testing as well as from parents and kindergarten teachers. Parents also completed questionnaires about the family, its resources, stresses and perceptions of their own competence. Parents talked to interviewers about what they had experienced when arranging for their children to enter kindergarten, their expectations and satisfaction with the resulting classroom situation.

Having children with special needs in formal schooling gives some relief to families, lessening certain demands on the family. Families with pre-schoolers reported more personal stress and family-social demands than families whose special needs children were already in kindergarten. This may relate in part to the shift in time and responsibility from being sole caregiver or the financial and logistical impact of more piecemeal private care for pre-schoolers.

First contact between families whose children were due to enter kindergarten and school authorities was inconsistent but generally satisfactory, frequently assisted by pre-school Resource Teachers who knew the children and acted as conduits of information to families about procedures. While recommendations for pre-kindergarten family and school planning often came from service providers, more than half of families initiated contact themselves. Communication between families and the school was relatively smooth but invited some improvement. In more than half of cases, school officials and parents had already met or had arranged a meeting before the child arrived at school. Frequently all communication was verbal not written. Similarly, most families reported an exchange of information among parents, previous early childhood education staff and school officials or a plan to do so, however this information sharing was sometimes verbal as well. Perhaps not surprisingly, given these circumstances, parents expressed some confusion over what treatment or assistance their children would receive in kindergarten-almost half were uncertain of what to expect. Of those who had definite expectations, 20% anticipated help in school or school-based help plus other assistance or treatment outside school, sometimes obtained privately; another 20% planned to obtain outside help only.

Families whose children had already entered kindergarten were less satisfied with the performance of school authorities in following through on perceived commitments, e.g., producing appropriate plans and promised resources. School services and resources such as educational assistants were often delayed, of inconsistent quality, or unavailable. According to parents, children received less than half the support promised before their transition into school. In fact, parents of children in school expressed the belief that the quality of care their children received was lower after they entered school than before.

The disappointment expressed by parents was echoed by teachers' ratings of children's progress and adjustment in school. Children rated as having higher levels of social, emotional, language and cognitive development by teachers were also perceived by parents to be receiving more care and attention in class and getting more enjoyment from school.

Families' disappointment and frustration may reflect scarce resources in addition to miscommunication. One recommendation from the research is for a more streamlined, coordinated system to encourage cooperation and reliable, documented information sharing among schools and other agencies serving children with special needs before transition so that all parties know what help can realistically be promised and provided in school. After school entry, more accountability would result from monitoring of services by school authorities and regular communication with families to ensure their children's special educational needs are met.

Item	File	Size / Pages
JANUS, M., Hughes, D. (2011) Service-related Correlates of Successful Transition to School for Children with Special Needs. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada, 2011	PDF	87 Kb / 1 pg
JANUS, M., LEFORT, J., CAMERON, R., KOPECHANSKI, L. (2007) Starting Kindergarten: Transition Issues for Children with Special Needs. Canadian Journal of Education, Vol 30, No. 3, 628-648.	PDF	250 Kb / 22 pgs
JANUS, M., HUGHES, D., & DUKU, E. (2010). Patterns of School Readiness Among Selected Subgroups of Canadian Children: Children with Special Needs and Children with Diverse Language Backgrounds. February 2010	PDF	351 Kb / 53 pgs
JANUS, M., KOPECHANSKI, L. CAMERON, R., HUGHES, D. (2008) In transition: Experiences of parents of children with special needs at school entry. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35 (5), 479-485.	PDF	159 Kb / 7 pgs
JANUS, M, HUGHES, D., CARTER, P. WALSH, C. Transition to school for children with special needs. Poster presented at the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Melbourne, Australia, July 2006.	PDF	147 Kb / 1 pg