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When Aiden O'Halloran was in Grade 6, he was getting 80s on his math tests, learning fractions, angles and double-digit addition, and keeping up with his class with targeted support.
In Grade 7, his teachers set a new goal for him: counting to 50.
"It was just a shock. It was back to preschool, kindergarten level," said his mother, Shawna O'Halloran. "I'm not asking for him to be taught calculus, but he was excelling in Grade 6 and then that just stopped."
Aiden has Down syndrome. The change in teaching happened when he switched from his neighbourhood school to a special education program for junior high. Now he's no longer pushed to succeed academically, says Shawna, and she's worried about what that means for his future.
There are kids with Down syndrome who graduate from university, start businesses and get retail jobs. Shawna follows them on Instagram.
But for Aiden?
"I'm going to have a child finishing Grade 12 not knowing basic math skills of multiplication or division."
Shawna was one of more than a dozen parents who joined CBC Calgary, CBC Edmonton and the community-based parents' support group Hold My Hand Alberta at an online forum recently.
This fall, the provincial government created a cabinet committee to replace the current 2003 Standards for Special Education. It's part of its effort to address growing complexity in the classroom -- kids with learning disabilities, but also those who are gifted or learning English.
We invited parents with Hold My Hand Alberta to share the concerns they have with the existing standards, and their hopes or worries for what this document may look like in the future.
The parents said they hope a new set of standards will address the major inconsistencies they find between school districts, make sure kids can focus on academics, value parents as partners and experts on their kids' abilities, and include a way to hold schools, districts or the government to account when the standards aren't upheld.
But they worry this might not be an exercise focused on helping their kids thrive in regular classrooms.
"It's scary. There's a lot of fear from parents that this will be segregation -- that any student with special needs will be moved out into a separate school," said Shawna.
"That we won't have inclusion anymore."
When Alberta crafted the 2003 Standards for Special Education, it was among the first in Canada to do so. They stress inclusion -- that the first option for all children who need special education should be "regular classrooms and neighbourhood schools."
The standards call for a meaningful role for parents, special assessments within eight weeks when needed, and individualized planning for students.
At the Hold My Hand Alberta forum, parents said the problem is funding and enforceability. Students with learning disabilities face long waitlists for assessments, and they aren't getting enough educational assistants or tools, like keyboards and communication devices, to participate in regular classrooms.
Plus, over the past two decades, several of the largest school divisions in Alberta have created specialized classrooms or schools for children with disabilities. They focus on literacy, basic math and life skills, and issue a certificate of completion rather than a Grade 12 diploma at the end.
In Calgary, trustees have previously told CBC News these schools have long waitlists, and that they've been designed in the students' best interest to cope with a major influx of children with severe complex needs.
"It's about providing the best setting for ... all students to be successful," said Lorraine Stewart, a Parkland School Division trustee and president of the Public School Boards' Association of Alberta, who attended the forum to hear parents' perspectives.
She defended the specialized classrooms as long as they are not a default option for kids.
But at the online parents' forum, they got mixed reviews.
Aiden is in a specialized classroom in Edmonton. Shawna felt she had to send him there because she was told he could no longer have speech and other therapies in the regular classroom.
"It's more life skills instead of learning, and it's not so inclusive," she said. "All his friends, in Grade 6, he had a really tight group that were around him. Then, they all went to the community junior high and he had to go to a junior high outside of our community for this program. He lost all his friends."
Then he was only surrounded by other students in the specialized program, said Shawna.
"In Grade 7, it was segregation because he wasn't allowed to go to the gym to eat lunch with the ... mainstream students. And he was kept away and would sit underneath the library window of his classroom."
At the forum, when parents shared stories of what's working and what's not working, they described a huge variation of experiences across classrooms, schools and districts.
They said many teachers and educational assistants are dedicated and smart, but others lack experience or access to training in how to support kids with specific needs. And even in specialized classrooms, the ratios can make teaching difficult.
Shannon Epler said her son's story is similar to Aiden's -- moved to a special program for junior high and saw his academics slide. Her son William, who is in Grade 8, also has Down syndrome.
"His teacher is amazing ... but they have 10 kids in that class with an aide and a teacher, and one of them is constantly going back and forth to the bathroom," she said.
"He's been out of elementary school for two years and the regression is horrifying," she said. "He used to be able to read a book by himself. He's been reading since he was three. He's a smart kid. He will no longer sit and read, and he will not hold a pencil."
Epler said in the new standards, she wants to see a process by which she can hold people accountable.
"I want to be able to go to somebody and say my son did not see an [occupational therapist] this year. Why is that? And who do I talk to about this and what are the consequences going to be?"
Many of the parents' stories came down to funding and a desire to better support real academic learning.
Jasmine Lee said the focus on behaviour rather than academics means her elementary-age daughter is getting overlooked. She has autism and has fallen two grade levels behind. But because she's quiet, she doesn't get any extra help.
"If this was a well-funded system, this wouldn't be an issue," Lee said.
Fela Waddy pulled her son out of a behavioural program in Calgary and put him back into a neighbourhood school to ensure he learns academics.
But with materials and equipment, including textbooks, in short supply, she had to buy a specialized keyboard herself so her son could show the teacher what he knows.
She'd like to see the new standards "bubble" funding, so extra money can only be spent on students with special needs.
Tarita Youngberg, who has five children and experience with schools in Okotoks, Camrose and Calgary, said she'd like to see the standards enforced so there is consistency across school districts.
Both of her daughters struggled to attend school in person because of a medical condition. Youngberg said in some schools, kids are threatened with the provincial attendance board, even if their continuing absence is because of a medical issue. Other schools simply send the school work home.
Youngberg says her daughters are now thriving in their homeschool programs.
Kate Kerber said kids could do so much more if the system believed in them. She said her son Will was told he couldn't graduate from high school, only earn a certificate. He has epilepsy and a severe learning disability, but he is great working with his hands and wants to become a carpenter.
They decided to try for a Grade 12 diploma anyway and are making progress.
"The standards are so important, and we need to update them. But they're not being followed as is."
Overall, participants of the online forum said the most important thing is to include parents at the table because they have expertise in their kids and the system.
The government of Alberta hasn't set a specific timeline for when it will release the new standards. It's currently analyzing school data on class size and complexity, with a promise to release this data in January. It has also said it will work with school boards, community leaders and education experts to plan a path forward.
After hearing from parents, CBC News asked Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides how he intends to include parents' perspectives in that work to revise the standards. He said he's inviting the advocacy group Inclusion Alberta to speak at the next cabinet committee meeting.
"I'm confident that we'll get it right," he said. "I know obviously in a vacuum there can be some concerns, but we take those concerns seriously. I'm confident we'll get the right mix so ... students can continue to learn in the most optimal conditions."