Ms Anne O'Rourke:

It is cutting to the chase.

Is a psychological assessment needed in all instances? Currently, under the system we have for allocating children places in special schools or classes, it is. It is a requirement to have an IQ score. That is a number but we have limited resources and resources are allocated according to needs. A certain percentage of the population will have an IQ of 69 or lower and they fit into the mild range. We may need to rethink the categories, particularly for special classes, and think of a more flexible approach. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of data is being collected in schools and there could be a better way of allocating places in classes for children who need special class placements.

The SERC report categories are still the designated names of the special classes in Ireland even though some of those have been changed by the Department of Education and Youth. I am thinking of specific speech and language disorders. The name of that class has been changed but it is still on the NCSE special classes list. I would love to know how many new classes were set up for children with specific developmental language disorders, reading difficulties and mild and moderate general learning difficulties in mainstream schools.

To answer the Deputy's question, although I do not know if I can in a very short period, I do not know that a formal psychological assessment and IQ score should really be a requirement. It can be very helpful and tell us a lot about how our children learn, their strengths and where they need support and so on.