Dr. Rosalyn Tamming:

I do not know. One thing struck me when the Senator mentioned the family-centred piece. A lot of assessments of need are being done in the private sector, either funded by the HSE or families doing it independently. CDNT staff have said to us that when the assessments of need are done privately, they often come back with a service statement that says the child should get certain care. It is centred around a block therapy approach. The CDNTs have moved away from a block therapy approach, however. That is part of the disconnect in the communication between parents and the CDNTs. Some parents do not understand the social model and family-centred approach of CDNTs.

In some cases, some one-on-one block therapy over six weeks is required but often that is not what the need is. They find when they do the assessments of need themselves they can often bring the parents on a journey and really help the parent understand the child’s disability and the services that will be offered. They get much higher engagement in things like the group training and therapy sessions and have a better relationship with that family. While we know that is not the solution, given that the teams cannot take on more assessments of need, there is a way to do an assessment of need that can be a very positive experience. It is not just about getting a diagnosis for the child and a service statement. Rather, it is about bringing the parents along and helping them understand. Parents can often be quite traumatised when they find out about a diagnosis. The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies did a very good piece of work, called the informing families project, about the way parents should be told. Often, they can be informed in a very negative way, which impacts their whole trajectory in trying to get support for their child, but there are lots of positive ways of imparting that information.

I have not really answered the Senator’s question.