New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline - Ministry of Health

Part 7: Mäori perspectives
Part 7
Attendees at the hui clearly favoured the
opportunity to more fully participate in
educational decision-making. Involvement
of the whänau was emphasised as was being
given a range of options about educational
services available to their child. It was noted
that this information should be provided
to the parent, carer and whänau as soon as
possible from the point of first diagnosis. A
more streamlined approach was called for
across the various educational programmes and
services to facilitate continuity and consistency
of education for children with ASD. This was
deemed particularly important, as transitions
across different educational environments
and their success (or otherwise) can lead to
stressful times for the child involved, their
families, and professionals. It was suggested
that an education package could be developed
for whänau describing the various educational
services available to them along with explicit
information about programme requirements
including funding. Providing parents and carers
with the choice of where they would prefer
the Individual Education Programme (IEP)
to be undertaken was also noted, as was the
requirement that the cultural choices of whänau
for their members with ASD be respected.
12. What are some of the barriers or
difficulties associated with participating in
education decision-making?
Responses to this question fell into five
categories. These are:
• assessment issues
• environmental factors
• information factors
• resource constraints
• negative emotion and experience.
In terms of assessment issues, some participants
felt that application forms needing to be
completed to receive education services were
barriers for Mäori. Others thought that the
high number of assessments needing to be
undertaken would prevent fuller participation
by Mäori. It was noted that there seems to be
additional support provided to more severe
cases of ASD and not the same level of support
given to less severe cases such as Asperger
syndrome. Regarding environmental factors,
it was suggested that some schools are specialeducation-needs
phobic, they continue to be
monocultural in both tone and practice and that
there is a lack of integration between the school
and home environments. The use of jargon
by professionals and the number of personnel
involved in assessment were also presented
as barriers. The need to clarify professionals’
respective roles in the educational assessment
process was suggested. A lack of resources,
such as not having suitable transport available,
was also cited as a barrier. Negative emotions,
including grief and anger about the diagnosis,
were noted as influencing participation; as was
the parents’ own prior negative experience in
the educational system. With regard to the latter,
it was suggested that the negative educational
experience of parents could directly influence
whether they wanted to be involved in their
child’s education.
13. Identify any Mäori-specific issues or
needs during the process.
Responses to this question closely resemble
those received for question 2. Two categories
were used to organise the responses. These are:
• communication and information factors
• cultural factors.
Specific issues or needs of Mäori included
information being delivered in a clear, precise
and meaningful way. Particular attention
to communication and information factors
should be paid by multidisciplinary teams
when working with whänau. It was suggested
that handouts might be useful in this regard,
especially if they included illustrations and
were written in language that was relevant,
appropriate and accessible to the public.
Moreover, it was also pointed out that provision
of information to Mäori should not be rushed,
and when imparting information it should not
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New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline