Ms Teresa Maher:

Parents have reported that even though their child may be allocated resource hours, he or she does not access the resource hours in second level education. This is partly a result of timetabling. If a student has an exemption from Irish, he or she can be rounded up with other students who also have an exemption and they all may receive joint or group work with educational support. This is not always great. A student with a very high IQ who is doing English, mathematics and every other subject at honours level might be exempt from Irish because he or she has severe dyslexia or dyspraxia. This student is then grouped with students who may be doing foundation level work. As the allocation is made to the school and not to the child, and it takes parents a long time to get their heads around that fact. Parents often report that the allocation is used elsewhere and is not directed towards their child.

Another problem concerns equipment. A child might have an iPad or a computer in sixth class but is required to hand it back to the school. Someone else said it already but it could be six months before it is replaced. It would make a big difference if the equipment was given to the child and not the school.

A partial day really only has a place as part of a bigger plan. Nothing will be resolved where partial days are used to relieve stress on the class teacher and students in the class without being part of a bigger plan and the child rather than the system will constantly be seen as the problem.

Someone touched on the issue but children in special classes in primary schools experience inclusion on a daily basis. They are included for part of the day, be it art, PE or another subject. Students in special classes in secondary school seldom experience inclusion. They spend the full day and possibly the full five years in the special class. This is particularly obvious or easy to observe for the leaving certificate applied, LCA, class. Most schools do not include a section in the timetable during which LCA students join with mainstream students for art or some other such subject. I know it is difficult to do it because the curriculums are very different but part of being in a mainstream school is experiencing that inclusion.

Something that was not touched upon but which I have to bring up is the idea of enforced isolation and seclusion of students with special educational needs.

This is happening throughout Ireland in schools without a proper system in place. Some schools manage it very well; others do not. As parents, we believe that in order for exclusion rooms or forced isolation to be put in place there needs to be a unified system that is sanctioned by the Department of Education and Skills. That includes copious reporting and specialist training for the staff who are working with the child in isolation. Parents report that teacher training and teachers' skills are the biggest indicator of positive outcomes for their children. Nothing else replaces the quality of a teacher and their understanding of teaching.