“Thank you for investing in my future.” — Sarah
We’d like to share with you why our Education Support Service (ESS) is so valuable. Actually, we are going to let student Sarah and her mum Bronwen tell you about themselves, the program and the benefits they have experienced.
A bit about Sarah
“Hello, my name is Sarah. I am 12 years old and I have many amazing people who help me to be the best I can be.”
Bronwen shares that, “Sarah is a resilient, passionate young lady who lives life to the full and currently participates in Scouts, contemporary dance, Special Olympics swimming, sailing and lots more. She loves spending time with her friends and family, being creative, reading, singing and adores food and dogs. She has worked on advertising campaigns and recently worked as an extra in a TV series.
“Sarah has a great sense of humour and passion for life! At school, her favourite subjects are art, library and writing.
“Sarah has already achieved so much, including awards at school, completing her Australian Sailing certificate, performing songs from ‘Annie’ at school fetes, speaking at assembly about Down syndrome, finishing fourth at her school swimming gala, and she performed the Acknowledgement of Country at her end-of-year dance concert.”
Sarah at school
Bronwen told us that, “Sarah has attended three mainstream primary schools and we have been very fortunate to have benefitted from Down Syndrome Victoria’s (DSV) ESS program at each. DSV’s wonderful Education Consultants, including Taryn previously and now Ro and others, have been an invaluable support.
“They’ve offered:
• a wealth of information
• advice of our legal rights
• support when navigating challenges ahead
• advocated for our family
• provided Down syndrome-specific resources
• referrals to other families and workshops
• someone to talk to who understands and always happy to help.
“Our experience at school has been mostly positive, however without constant advocacy from our family and other supports, Sarah’s experience would be very different.”
How the Education Support Service has made a difference
“Most teachers and aides have little experience supporting a child with Down syndrome. Despite regular SSG meetings at all three schools, Sarah’s supports have often been lumped in with autism and ADHD as she has been the only child with Down syndrome in each school,” shared Bronwen.
“Standard teaching methods don’t always benefit Sarah. Having access to a professional advocate via DSV’s Education Support Service that can suggest researched alternatives makes a huge difference.
“Sometimes there isn’t clear enough communication in the classroom. Having a DSV Education Consultant visiting Sarah, meeting her teachers, aides and leadership staff and reporting back with concerns, her wellbeing and conveying successes is invaluable.
“Having a DSV Education Consultant who understands and can advocate for the importance of better communication has made a big difference for Sarah and our family.
“We were fortunate to have received support from DSV’s family support team who referred us to the DSV ESS program before Sarah started school. The ESS program helped us make decisions, made her transition to primary school smoother, and helped us with how to best support Sarah, strategies that would work, and helped us understand our rights. ESS program staff have supported us, advocated on our behalf and educated the school through professional development workshops and resources.
“When unsure why Sarah was receiving PSD reports instead of standard end-of-term reports, we were able to learn our rights and get advice and she is now assessed like her peers. We were also able to have discussions prior to a school visit about how assessments and reasonable adjustments are made, the methods used and how to ensure the best outcomes for Sarah. Ro from DSV followed up with me after her visit.
“Friendships and wellbeing at school are always on our agenda and having Ro observe Sarah at school and discuss strategies with her teacher and aides to initiate and support friendship has made a considerable difference.
“Sarah’s reading and spelling group levels vastly differed between home and school, based on the way the school was assessing her comprehension. With Ro’s support we were able to include more scaffolding during assessment and necessary adjustments were made.
“As Sarah is approaching high school, Ro has referred me to another family from the Down Syndrome Victoria network who live in the area, for advice. Sarah has chosen to go to the same school as their daughter, and they are looking forward to being a mentor to Sarah at her new school.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank DSV for all their support.”
Sarah said, “Thank you for investing in my future.”
To find out more
If you would like to find out more about our Education Support Service, click on the button below.
Education Support Service