Dr. ?ine Roddy:

The school setting is the preferred method among parents. It is less disruptive to family life in terms of having to take time off work to bring children for appointments. In addition, a number of parents reported very short notice for when they would get an appointment. A school setting would run more smoothly in respect of their family life.

On SNAs, the Chair mentioned training courses at the Middletown Centre for Autism, but if this is going to be a service in the school, what is the scenario for the number of services? Sometimes it is a case of somebody doing great if they get six speech and language sessions. To refer back to the higher level of what is best practice, an individualised plan for a student is currently based on his or her assessment of needs, but there should be a greater checking in on what is needed rather than just basing the delivery method on what we can afford.

Parents seem to prefer to have that at the school level rather than having to go into a clinical setting.