By STACEY BODGER
Reid sits hunched over a table in the middle of the classroom and puts his felt tip pens in order.
The five-year-old plucks them one after another from a blue plastic container and lines them along the table. There is no particular colour order - but the line must be straight and when the container is empty, he fills it and begins again. And again.
But his world is interrupted by his teacher aid, who turns his head to face hers and tells him that it is time for maths.
The Phoenix Centre at Riverhills Primary School in Pakuranga is New Zealand's first class for autistic children to be integrated into a mainstream school.
The class started in January but officially opened this week. It is the result of three parents' desire for an autistic class within a mainstream school.
The parents, aided by Specialist Education Services and the Education Ministry, found that Riverhills School had a spare classroom and its principal, Christine Mason, was willing to take the children.
They would normally have attended a special education school, or an extension unit at a primary school.
Apart from a safety fence, the room appears the same as every other classroom. But its interior has been purpose-built for autistic children. Inside are individual work cubicles so pupils are not disrupted by others, "quiet rooms" for time alone and carpet to minimise loud noises which the children cannot tolerate.
From the combined funding of nine children, the class receives a full-time and part-time teacher, as well as teacher aids and speech and occupational therapists.
Several mainstream classes are held in the Phoenix Centre to include the autistic children, with a buddy system between mainstream and autistic children. There is now a waiting list and parents in other cities are looking to set up similar classes.
Autistic pupils dive into the mainstream
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