The wait time for children under five years of age to access specialist learning support is now nearly 20 per cent longer than it was a year ago, says a spokesperson for NZEI Te Riu Roa.

"Some children waiting for early intervention services to support speech and language, behavioural challenges and other learning needs now wait for as long as 183 days and nationally on average 126 days," says President of NZEI Te Riu Roa, Mark Potter.

To highlight the long wait times – a symptom of understaffing and a lack of resourcing – NZEI Te Riu Roa members around the country organised events as part of a Learning Support Awareness Day on August 29.

"The data shows significant inequities in wait times across different regions of the country."

According to official data obtained by NZEI Te Riu Roa as of June this year tamariki in the Ministry of Education subregion of Tāmaki Herenga Tāngata - which encompasses north and west Auckland -wait 183 days to access early intervention services.

This is followed by the Bay of Plenty with a wait time of 177 days.

Children in Wellington wait an average of 146 days.

"It is appalling that wait times are this long and in some cases have worsened," says Mark.

He says it is urgent the Government invests more money in specialist staff to meet the needs of children.

“The Government must step up to fix a broken system that is failing children.

"In the context of a two or three-year-old child’s development, a six-month wait is a huge delay in getting critical support, compounding the challenges to their learning success."

Mark says in ERO's recent report on oral literary rates, it shows that 20 per cent of young children at age five are struggling with speaking skills.

"The first 2000 days of a child’s life is critical to developing their full potential – so investing to ensure they get the specialist support they need early on will pay huge dividends to the child, their family and the community – both now and, as evidence has shown, throughout their lives."

Wait time data obtained by the union highlights similar delays across several learning support services for students in primary school, including Communication Services (speech and language therapists), Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (which provides support for students with the highest ongoing levels of need for specialist support), and Behaviour Service (specialists who provide additional support with social and emotional learning).

“During these wait times, educators are reporting behaviour problems that develop out of frustration, negative thinking, and low self-esteem because tamariki are not getting the help they need," says Mark.

"By the time they get support, the learning support specialist then has to battle with these social development issues on top of the existing educational development issues.”

Mark says in an ideal world, learning support specialists would see a child the same month they get the referral.

“A significant lack of investment by the Government in learning support, plus unfulfilled vacancies for specialist staff, is driving the long wait times for tamariki.

"This data shows we have hit a new and deeper level of crisis, and it is our children who are paying the highest price.

“Government should stop talking about the problem and commit to increasing funding to learning support services.”