Kerrie Curtis with son Harry and daughter Isabelle.
Photo: Simon Schluter
Jewel Topsfield Education Editor for The Age, 24 September 2012
AS THE mother of three children on the autism spectrum, Kerrie Curtis is a veteran of battles with the Victorian education system.
Her latest fight is to get special VCE exam provisions for her oldest son Liam, who has Asperger's, an anxiety disorder and a learning difficulty. Ms Curtis' frustration is not with his school, RMIT, which she says has been absolutely superb.
However she says the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has been ''extraordinarily inflexible''. Just weeks away from VCE exams she is still trying to apply for him to use a laptop in exams.
Meanwhile, she is fighting to get her son Harry's primary school to pay for the speech therapy and assistance with emotional regulation and social skills that medical experts say he needs.