Micah Tuivaiave, who loves playing outside on his scooter, swimming and getting lost in books, turns 6 in December. While many of his peers have already started school, he’s still at daycare, but not by choice.
Micah has severe non-verbal autism which means he requires dedicated attention in a school setting. However, the majority of specialist schools in the country are unable to take in new students due to resource issues.
Even though he’d been on a wait list since 2022, Micah was one of the 40-odd students at Rosehill specialist school in Papakura who were told last month that they would not have a spot in 2024. Read more