Ms Paula Prendeville:

The continuous support model is a response to intervention model that was developed with the Department of Education and rolled out initially by our NEPS colleagues in education. The NCSE uses that model and a multi-tiered system-of-support model. Regarding the response to intervention model, the Deputy is correct in saying that schools track how the child responds to intervention across those tiers. We have the universal tier where we have the expectation that the school environment would be adapted and supported to meet the needs of the young children and then over time, the school in collaboration with leadership - the set teacher and the SNA supporting the child - look to see how the child responds to that intervention over time. That is tracked over time. It is the business of schools to track that. I know the Deputy said there is work involved in it but a significant amount of supports have gone into schools to enable them to track that support to build capacity in schools. The NCSE has developed a lot of resources to help schools around that universal piece. We have the sensory document we produced, which really supports schools to understand the regulation needs of students. Our therapy colleagues within the NCSE have also developed communication supports around adapting the environment to meet those holistic communication needs. Any of us from teaching backgrounds who have taught children with autism know that really good interventions for students with autism are really good interventions for all children regardless of what their need is. There are a lot of universal supports. We can embed a universal design for learning approach, which meets the needs of all students.

Over time, some students will not respond to all those supports. They then move to the school support plus, which means there will be more intense supports for those students. The NCSE has many advisers who will go into schools and request additional supports. We have advisers in inclusion and behaviour who will help in respect of those needs. For the very intense supports, students can access behavioural therapists because I know behaviour is a major issue in many schools, particularly in special schools.