The reality of fewer assistants in the classroom for special needs students is hitting home for some Saskatchewan families.

It's happening in different parts of the province, but in the Prairie Spirit School Division in the central part of the Saskatchewan, 41 full-time educational assistant positions have been dropped this fall.

Educational assistants are the employees who work directly with students, helping them keep on track with school work and the classrom routine.

Warman mother Roberta Doell said her son is already feeling the impact of the Prairie Spirit School Division cuts.

For the past few years, Doell's son Blake, 14, has had his own full-time educational assistant, but this year he had to start without one.

Blake has autism and needs someone in the classroom to help him understand what the teacher is saying and what he needs to be doing.

"He's so smart, but he doesn't always have the tools to be successful and that's where the EA comes into play," Doell said.

After only a few days back at school his special education teacher fought for, and got, a dedicated EA for Blake's math class, Doell said.

The special ed teacher herself has taken over teaching his English class.

Doell still isn't sure it will be enough, so she's continuing her campaign to have an EA in every classroom.

"I will not accept that my child's voice is being taken away because somebody has decided the administrative dollars should go elsewhere," she said.

School division officials say the division cut the EA jobs because of budget pressures, but it's not unusual to make adjustments for individual students in the first few weeks of class.

The cuts at Prairie Spirit School Division followed a controversy in the spring about educational assistants provincewide.

Reports at the time suggested the Education Ministry was looking at cutting the number of educational assistants, over time, from 3,400 to 800.

Darren McKee, an assistant deputy minister of education, said Thursday those figures were not adopted as a plan.

"There was never a number that we talked about," McKee told Morning Edition host Sheila Coles. "We actually talked about the services that students required."

Asked if the ministry has changed its position since the spring, McKee said it hasn't.

"No, we still feel that the best way forward is ensuring that each child has an individual personal program plan and that will determine what the levels of service are."

On the question of money, McKee said the government realizes that school divisions have limited funds, although last year there was an increase to school divisions of 2.1 per cent.