Individual Stories - Brendan

Just like everyone else

My son Brendan is proud to be a student at Box Hill Tech.  It’s his first experience of regular school and that means a lot to a 16 year old.  For the first 11 years of his life Brendan was educated in segregated settings.  This was not what I wanted for him but all attempts to integrate into regular school were received negatively and only resulted in brief tokenism in primary school – e.g. singing songs with 40 other children for one hour a week.  Because Brendan is multiply disabled his chances of being integrated in early childhood were very slim.  I used to watch him play with his cousins and friends children and could see the real benefits for him to learn by watching and listening to them.  Like all parents I wanted my child to live and learn with his peers – a right which parents of regular children take for granted.  Now government policy makes it possible for parents like me to achieve social equality for their children.  It is this school which has given Brendan the opportunity to be educated with his regular peers.  This first year has had its highs and lows.  But even the lows have a positive aspect – Brendon now knows all about school rules and that he must abide by them ‘just like anybody else.’  As a result he is learning new ways of handling negative feelings.  Being treated like ‘anybody else” makes him feel better about himself too.

The change from Special School has been enormous and something we need to stop and think about, to really appreciate – the classes are bigger, the school is bigger, there are twice the number of classes to attend, he is expected to find his own way around the school, to concentrate for longer periods and to conform to normal behaviour expectations.

Naturally he misses his friends from his old school, however, he now has the opportunity to learn from watching how regular teenagers form friendships, converse with each other and handle relationships with teacher and peers.

With the help of your excellent staff we have worked together through regular Integration Support Group Meetings, sometimes involving Brendan, to set an educational program designed to meet his needs.  Class teachers have been working with Di – his teacher aide and Lyn – visiting teacher for the visually impaired to achieve this.  The creative thinking of individual staff and Di and Lyn has resulted in positive learning for Brendan – for example he is drawing people for the first time and expressing his ideas more clearly through his first experience of typing stories into a computer keyboard.  Most importantly he is participating ‘just like anybody else.’  The benefits for other students are accepting differences and knowing Brendan as a person.  For teachers – awareness of Brendan’s educational needs created teaching strategies from which all students can benefit.  Some people might say ‘But what is he learning?’ and I say ‘Heaps!’  We are looking at individual differences in learning and the adaptation of class materials accordingly – e.g. While other students may turn out finished products in woodwork, Brendan is getting the hang of basic sanding techniques – same materials but different levels of learning and both equally important.  He is also learning (like other students) coping mechanisms which help him deal with life – e.g. he has been trained by the guide dog people (though he doesn’t use a dog), to travel to and from school independently – rather than being picked up by a special school bus and carted miles across Melbourne to the Special School as previously.  Though he did have one mishap during travel, it is important to recognize that learning to become independent will involve risks (as it does for all young adults) and that like them, Brendan has a right to the dignity of risk taking.  What Brendan likes, and what your school has provided is the chance to be a local boy going to his local school ‘just like anybody else.’

Bronwyn Nicholls
Mother of Brendan
Year 10