Ms Áine Lynch:

My answer to the Senator's question on the provision of speech and language services by a cluster of schools is yes, there is a great need. I know of a project that was part of a previous community partnership scheme where the Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght compiled a report on the subject of speech and language support services in the school system. The scheme seemed to be greatly beneficial but it costs a lot more. The children who engaged in the scheme made dramatic improvements. They did not need it after a certain amount of time because the support got them back on a good path. Sometimes we see either the gold standard or what we have now and there is a view that we should do nothing until we reach the gold standard. The project in Tallaght showed some things that were not of a gold standard yet still were very effective. One initiative meant teachers in the school were trained, during an 11 to 17 hour session, on early identification of speech and language problems and early intervention at a very low level. The course was very short but made a dramatic difference. It allowed teachers to identify speech and language problems very early in the early education sector and the first few years of primary school. It also showed teachers what they could do and share with people at home in order to remedy many problems. In addition, it highlighted the fact that if problems were not addressed early on they would become very big problems as children grew older.

Of course we would like the school-based interventions when it comes to educational and curriculum access. If we do not reach the standard tomorrow there is still a lot of support that we can give but all of the work cannot be left to the teacher, as often described. However, if one does not address such problems early on then a teacher's workload will be much greater. A short intervention course that gives teachers skills to monitor children and implement early intervention strategies will make the classroom much more manageable. Also, the children will be much better able to communicate.

Labelling was another issue. Parents struggle with labelling and I get the point made by the Senator that parents need to get over labelling. However, society caused the problem and, therefore, has the same ability to get rid of the need to label, particularly in the education system. A label in the education system does not convey the educational needs of a child.