In her speech on Private Members’ business in the Dáil on 12 February, the Minister acknowledged special needs education has undergone a transformation in the past ten years. Credit must be given to the Minister and her predecessors for putting in place the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and providing extra resources and funding for special educational needs. 

Several key issues have been highlighted in the controversy that has blown up about appropriate education for children with autism and autism spectrum disorder. There are other issues, however, that have not been addressed regarding the education of children with autism. 

The first issue concerns the continuum of services. Services available to children with autism around the country are patchy, uncoordinated and deeply unsatisfactory as far as individual families and parents are concerned. There is a necessity in the special educational needs area to have appropriate pre-school, primary and post-primary education services that flow on seamlessly and are age appropriate and appropriate to the developmental needs of the child. 

Home tuition is available, with some struggle, for parents with children with autism. Children under three years of age are entitled to ten hours per week of home tuition. A child over three years is entitled to 20 hours home tuition. The parents must organise this for themselves. It may not always be desirable to have education occur within the family home. A choice to parents for alternative pre-school education is not available.  

Barnaycoyle ABA pre-school in CountyWicklow is not funded or recognised by the Government. It exists because of the diligent fund-raising efforts of its parents and committee. It is a precarious basis on which to run a school. The parents do not know from month to month or year to year whether the school can continue.  

When children from the school are considered to be ready to move on, there are no special primary education services for them in the county. Their parents, if lucky, can send their children to the nearest appropriate school which is in the Minister’s Constituency of Dún Laoghaire. They also may try to get a place in St Catherine’s special school in CountyWicklow which, because it is segregated environment, may not be an appropriate educational environment for children who have benefited from pre-school ABA input. Often they may be ready for a special unit in a mainstream primary school but that is not available in the county. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to post-primary education the continuum is far from satisfactory. There are serious gaps in the services with much depending on geographical location. Parents fortunate to live in an area with a specially deisgnated ABA school can be reassured their child will receive an appropriate and specially tailored research in schools I am sure the instincts of the parents will be borne out.  

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS: STATEMENTS (RESUMED) • Thursday 21 February 2008 

Filed under:
Seanad Speeches, Speeches by Deirdre