Ms Margaret Lowndes:

The same applies to everything and not just autism classes or special schools but mainstream schools. There are a lot of autistic children who are in mainstream education but they do not get any support whatsoever and that is really bad. We advocate for all autistic children but currently the parents we know of autistic children in mainstream education have huge issues because they do not get anything. There are not enough National Educational Psychological Service assistants and therapists. Also, teachers are not trained enough. Therefore, children suffer because they are left in the mainstream system. We have asked for therapists to be brought into the mainstream system, first in special schools but the provision needs to be across the board. The children in mainstream education who may have an exemption from studying Irish could, for example, receive assistance from therapists at that time whether speech and language therapists or occupational therapists. This what we must do in future.

We have heard stories about children going to school and see the coke bottle effect. They get in the school door and they are masking all day. God love them, one wonders how they feel about the situation. Just because some of these children can communicate or are verbal does not mean that they can actually communicate and, unfortunately, things escalate when they get home. The parents and their families try their best to help their children but when there is nothing from the HSE and mainstream education is not supported then we fail these children.

However, when you have no support from the HSE and mainstream schools are not supported, we have to consider who is being failed and we are failing the child. It is definitely all the way across, including the mainstream, the special classes and special schools regarding the HSE and a clear pathway between the HSE and education. With the change of the Minister responsible - I believe it is now the responsibility of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman - these need to be working together to find one big pathway by which a parent can get the diagnosis and can take their time to understand the diagnosis. It is an awful shock when you get a diagnosis. Sometimes, it can be a bit like a funeral. Parents bounce back but they cannot do so when they are fighting. Parents are fighting the NCSE and are looking for places and spots. A clear pathway is needed in which parents can enter a system and log everything in with information about where to go, instead of being handed a load of sheets of paper to look for schools. This is where parents' groups come in. This is what we all do because parents come to us to ask where to go, where are the suitable schools in the community, where is the nearest children's disability network team, CDNT, what do they provide etc. It is awful for parents who have been in the system for so long like most of us here, who have kids who are eight, nine and ten years old, to have to sit brand new parents down who think they will get everything and explain the reality that they might need to take out a loan to access private therapies. When we are talking about everything in this committee, I really hope that members take notice that there are autistic children in mainstream education. They may be in an inappropriate setting or they might be in the right place but they still need extra help, especially as they go forward. Respite or adult services might not be for them but we also know through As I Am that a lot of adults do not have employment. These are the big issues. The committee needs to be looking across the board at a whole system change.