Part way through the conversation, Nancy Johnson realized that the vice-principal of her son’s school simply didn’t understand her boy’s illness.
Her son James has bipolar disorder and the upshot of the conversation with the vice principal was that her son couldn’t attend a sports banquet at his school. The vice principal thought he was a safety threat.
It was two years ago that Johnson, who asked that neither her nor her son’s real names be used, took James out of Grade 8 to deal with problems he was having with his medication. She said the conversation with the vice principal made it clear to her that the concern about safety was rooted in misconceptions about James’ illness.
“This is a human rights issue,” she said. “You cannot do this.”
Bipolar disorder causes alternating mood swings – from depressive lows to emotional highs. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, the disorder affects about one percent of the population.
In the end, Johnson was able to speak to the principal and reverse the decision.
But the incident proved to be just one more example of how children with mental illness struggle because of a lack of information and resources that would help them get treatment and a better education.
Michael Cheng, a psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, said families that can’t afford private treatment for their children have an even tougher time.
“We already have two-tiered medical care, because if you can’t pay then you can’t see a psychologist,” he said.
In Ontario’s cash-strapped public school system, those with money can buy access to resources as well.
Children with special needs must have an individual education plan, or IEP, to get extra help in regular classrooms.
But parents are often faced with a choice – pay up front for the speedy development of the individual education plan, or wait years.
Johnson paid $2,000 to have an IEP developed quickly for her son after she was told the wait time would be five years.
Mental illness is not in the Ottawa school board’s special education policy. Instead, such illnesses fall into the category of “behavioural issues,” which puts the blame on the child, Johnson said. James once made what the school considered a threat while being intensely teased and experiencing an imbalance in his medication, she said.
“I asked that it not be written up as a behavioural, but as a medical, and they said it was impossible to do that.” He received a seven-day suspension.
Lynn Scott, chair of the board of trustees for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said that more attention has recently been focused on mental health.
A report was recently released naming lack of mental health resources as one of the roots of youth violence, and a database program has been introduced to help teachers track what parts of the curriculum students are having difficulty with, she said.
However, she acknowledged that incidents arising from mental illnesses are classified as “behavioural” and there no plans to change that categorization, apart from a recommendation that teachers get more professional development training.
Johnson is trying to get James into in an education program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre that is designed for youth treatment, but there are only 24 spots.
The public school system also offers special education programs but the waiting list is long – and children with mental health issues have to compete with children with other problems, like disabilities, for placement.
Lynn Fraser, a private tutor for children with special needs, said that limited spots in these programs mean students with less severe mental illnesses can get left behind.
“Children who should be getting help, they’re not getting help. It’s going to the children who have severe problems,” she said.