Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Mannion and all her colleagues. I acknowledge all the work that has been done and the significant investment that has been made in special needs, and rightly so. I share Senator O'Reilly's concern about the EPSEN Act. That 17 years have elapsed since its passage and that some issues may have changed certainly do not lessen its whole principle. What was considered very important 17 years ago is all the more important at this point in time.

Deputy Conway-Walsh raised the issue of children not being in school due to reduced timetables. There has been a complete abuse of reduced timetables and I think we are all aware of specific examples. Only this morning, I spoke to a parent about her child who has special needs and has been getting sent home every morning. The child attends an ASD unit within a mainstream school. There was a large focus on the issue a number of years ago and agreement was reached that guidelines would be issued and a proper monitoring system would be put in place. Is there an update on that? It fits in to what we are talking about.

Turning to the national training programme for SNAs and teachers, I acknowledge that the Department is considering rolling out another such a programme for nursing within schools. Is there an update on that proposal? Having listened to what our guests outlined, I believe that teachers and SNAs need more than the types of supports being suggested.

We all agree that early intervention is very important. There are significant delays between assessment and provision of support services for children diagnosed with autism. Does the Department have up-to-date information on how long the delays are at this time? Anecdotally, I have heard they are very long. What do our guests consider an acceptable delay?

I know of a number of parents whose children have been diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia but they had to go to England to get the diagnosis. There seems to have been a significant shortfall in support services for speech therapy. I know of a seven-year-old boy who has had only six public speech therapy sessions. Again, his parents, thankfully, could afford to make sacrifices to be able to go down the private road but that is not an option for everybody.

The introduction of the new school inclusion model at the school for the deaf in Cabra meant that a speech therapist post was to be taken away. While that has been rectified, and I know the Minister of State committed to that, it is a very important issue and we want to ensure that designated special schools will not lose out under the new model.

On the supports for schools through NEPS, while it is very important that schools have a wellness policy and a positive mental health policy, there are circumstances in which direct interventions are needed. Are professional counsellors provided by the Department? Is there access to funding through the school to be able to supply that? It is very important, notwithstanding the issue of peer learning.