Ms Leanne Adams:

I am a parent of two children with additional needs. These are autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. I am the chair of the parents' association of the school they attend. Ms Louise O'Toole is also a member of the parents' association. Like many of the people here I am worn, tired and exhausted. I will try to get through this but I am very nervous and I ask everyone to bear with me. Many of the children who attend the same school as my children have already been failed by the education system simply because there was no appropriate school placement for them. They only got an appropriate placement last year. I ask the committee to note this.

We are all very aware of the health system that is failing all of our children. I am recorded as having accessed services. My seven-year-old twins have autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. They were diagnosed at the age of two. I have received three hours of speech and language therapy for one but not for my child with cerebral palsy. I was blessed with Enable Ireland at the beginning when my children were diagnosed at the age of two. Since the changeover to the CDNT, one of my children has received two sessions of physiotherapy. Recently he had to have the gastrocsoleus operation on his leg to lengthen them. In my eyes they waited for my child to regress enough to intervene. He is still waiting on physiotherapy appointments. I do not have any. It is ridiculous. Please stop making our children part of these statistics.

We ask the committee to support the schools appropriately and stop straining the staff that we have. Our staff are worn out. They are not speech and language therapists, occupational therapists or physiotherapists. They are doing the jobs of many and are being paid very little for it. Our school opened with little to no support. This is its second year running. There is no special team, no occupational therapist, no speech and language therapist, no behaviour analysis and no school nurse, a role that is direly needed. There are no facilities. There is no indoor hall or appropriate outdoor area. There are not even appropriate tables and chairs to suit the height of the children. For my children the table is high and the chairs are low. One of my children has a physical disability. I am still waiting for the right chairs.

I managed to get my child's occupational therapist into the school. He said the appropriate chairs need to be fitted. I said that was great and asked whether he was going to get them. He said that it is the school that has to order them. I do not understand it. The occupational therapist makes a request for the appropriate chairs and tables for the children. The school then has to request them and the board must release the funds for them. In my child's case, the occupational therapist was at the school three or four months ago. My child is in a wheelchair and he needs the appropriate furniture at a normal height. I asked whether the occupational therapist's recommendation would cover every child in the class. He said it would not. The rest of the children are also suffering. Even the chairs and table are an issue.

Where and how is physical education supposed to be supplied in the school? There are no facilities. We have a caged-off area where the children have to play. There is no indoor hall. When do we get the space? When do we get the equipment?

Parents are still unsure whether they will be able to access the summer programme through the school. As parents, we understand that the staff are doing everything they can. The SNAs and teachers are breaking their backs to do jobs they are not paid to do. The NCSE is putting this work on top of them by not providing the therapies that we need. I apologise but I am very fluttery. Our children direly need the summer programme. It helps them with structure and routine. This is what they need. Our children will not be able to access this because of the strain on the teachers and SNAs. Why would they want to work extra hours when they are already doing more work than they should?

The NCSE is trying to push a school inclusion model project. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, the NCSE is teaching the teachers and SNAs to deliver speech and language therapy and to deal with the behavioural outbursts of children. It is not for individual children but in general. It is the same as what the HSE is trying to do with the parents. Rather than delivering individual therapies they are trying to teach the parents how to deal with the emotional, behavioural and cognitive needs of their children but it is in general. Recently I attended a sensory workshop run by the HSE. It was a three or four hour course. I was told that after I attended it I would get an appointment from the HSE in approximately three months' time.

They will probably see my child then, depending on how things are.

It is exactly what the HSE is trying to do with the parents, that is, train the parents to be the therapists, and the NCSE is doing the same with the teachers and SNAs within the school. They are also trying to enforce that unqualified teachers and principals supply and complete the assessment of need for our children. Where does this end? The teachers and principals that I know of have said they are not educated enough, when the results of this report are going to follow the child throughout their life. They say they cannot provide that because they do not have the training and do not practice in this area. It needs to be done by psychologists and professionals who practise in these areas.

Can the committee explain what aspect of our school is meant to be “appropriate” or what part of it is the special school, when we do not even have the resources that a mainstream school does? It is just another building where they bunch together our children in a hurry to meet a demand with little or no supports. Only in November 2022 did we access an appropriate sensory room - I emphasise the word “appropriate” – and only in January 2023 did we access an occupational therapy room that is still having work done, but we will not have an occupational therapist there to provide the occupational therapy. It is just a free-for-all. We need in-house therapies in order to make these work.

It is now 2023 and the school was opened in 2021. You are failing our children. Stop using them as trial runs. Professional medical reports have been made stating what kind of education our children will need and in what kind of setting they will need it. Provide it, stop wasting their precious time and give them the education they need so they can learn and grow to the best of their ability.