Ms Áine Lynch:

It is also important to bear in mind that when schools are looking for resources, they have very little choice so it is an SNA, an SET or teacher. Sometimes things that do not fall within traditional teaching get referred to the SNA but the new therapeutic support pilot that is coming into schools should support a lot of this too. What we need is real specialist people working with children who have different needs. It is not always that the role of the SNA needs to be expanded. Some of these children need really professional specialist support so we would very much welcome the therapeutic supports coming into schools to do that too.