A FURIOUS father says his disabled daughter, 11, was tied up on a school bus, and is considering legal action.

Michael says Caitlyn was restrained by staff trying to stop unruly behaviour, including scratching at seats.

He said his daughter had told him force was used to bind her wrists with rope.

The principal of the Ballarat Specialist School said he believed shoelaces were used by bus staff to secure Caitlyn to her seat.

Police and the Education Department are investigating an August 29 incident.

A police spokesman said a Ballarat man was interviewed yesterday.

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.

A court case is running in Victoria (see http://a4.org.au/a4/node/481) about education for a child with a disability. So far the department has said that the reason for the young man’s failure to learn is that, he ate too many donuts.

An expert witness for the Education Department told the court said standardised assessments are not as good as unwritten teacher observations because, teachers have a special gift.

The department lawyers and their expert witness said that people with an intellectual disability don’t learn, so no matter what you do with them they don’t improve.

TrackingCentral Pty. Ltd, a Brisbane based company supplies a miniature GPS Personal Location device called CareTracker which is used by carers or family members to locate a loved one in the event they wander off or become lost.

The CareTracker is the size of a match box and can be carried in a pocket or backpack or else securely attached to the wrist / ankle or clothing. The CareTracker has a battery life of up to 20 days.

Beau Abela. Photo: Craig Abraham

Maris Beck, May 1, 2012

A TEENAGER is suing the Education Department in Victoria because he cannot read, write or count properly, saying he was silenced with medication and teachers blamed his inability to learn on eating doughnuts.

Beau Abela, now 18, claims he was victimised and discriminated against because of his complex learning disability.

Barrister David Hancock told the Federal Court in Melbourne that his client, Beau, did not have the literacy or numeracy skills to get a job. “Instead he sits at home wondering what to do with his life.”

Mr Hancock said that the department had blamed Beau, his family, “even his diet” and had not provided enough help. Mr Hancock contrasted reports from prep and early school years describing Beau as happy, responsible and friendly with later reports of aggression and disengagement. “The longer Beau has been at school, the more his intellectual functioning has actually declined.”

He told the court, presided over by Justice Richard Tracey, that Beau had passed through the system even though he had failed to meet the required academic levels, and despite his father’s repeated concerns.

April 29, 2011

A Victorian family who sued the Department of Education for discriminating against their disabled son have been ordered to pay legal costs after losing their court battle.

Paige Walker claimed her now 16-year-old son Alex, who has Asperger's Syndrome, was not allowed to attend his country Victorian secondary school full-time during 2007.

Selma Milovanovic Legal Affairs Reporter
March 25, 2011

A TEENAGE boy with multiple disabilities who was sent home during lunch and banned from school excursions has lost his discrimination claim against the Education Department.

The Victorian boy, whom The Age has chosen not to name, has Asperger's syndrome (an autism spectrum disorder), dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

Miki Perkins
January 28, 2009

THE State Government and the Catholic Education Office are being dragged through the courts in at least 18 separate cases by disabled students who claim they have been neglected at school and lag far behind their peers.

At least 17 students, through their parents, are battling the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development or the Catholic Education Office in jurisdictions including the Federal Court, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.