00:00Eight-year-old Sonny is autistic and loves school, but in year one he hit out at a teacher's
00:09aid after becoming overwhelmed.
00:12He was suspended.
00:13It was really stressful and really heartbreaking, but we couldn't send him back to an environment
00:18where he was going to continually get suspended.
00:21Mother Bianca had to readjust her nursing shifts to homeschool Sonny.
00:26New figures showing Queensland alone suspensions cost parents of children with disability more
00:31than $14 million a year in lost work.
00:35Teachers spend more than 400,000 hours a year managing behaviours.
00:40And many suspended kids end up in the justice system, costing taxpayers nearly $10 million
00:46a year.
00:47Unfair suspensions for kids with disability not only impacts on their rights to attend
00:52school, it also impacts on our broader economy.
00:55Inquiries across the country have shown children with disability are over-represented in school
01:01suspensions, as well as Indigenous students.
01:04Advocates say suspensions rarely improve behaviour and laws should be changed to make them a
01:10last resort.
01:11A child will continue to do the behaviour that got them suspended because it gets them
01:18out of school.
01:19Principals say the solution lies in providing teachers with more support.
01:23I just don't think the resourcing and specialist training for our schools, our public schools
01:30in particular, has kept pace.
01:33Sonny is now thriving at a new school.
01:35They've just got empathy and compassion.
01:39A good outcome for Sonny's schooling and his mum's work.
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