Ms Miriam Kenny:

The other thing is planning in schools or around that. If we open a class with six children of a certain age, more than likely those children will not leave that place for eight years. Therefore, in fact, that place is gone. Again, we have to look at the supports for the students. Perhaps students should be able to move back and forth a little bit more, in and out of the mainstream environment. In the case of an autism class in a mainstream school, it is about integration all the time. We are trying to encourage integration, even though it might not always be possible for every child. If everybody takes in junior infants or first years, then more than likely those class places will be gone. Planning needs to happen in respect of that. That is something to look at. The CAO system works. I work with it all the time. We need to look at the system. We do not need to be putting in all the information again. If there were up-to-date information for parents, it would reduce the stress for them. Parents are calling schools. Other schools will then say they do not need a class because nobody is ringing them. Nobody is ringing them because there are no classes. It does not mean there is not a need for a class if people are not ringing the school. That administrative burden needs to be taken away from the schools so that they are allowed to do the teaching and learning and to be involved in all that they are supposed to be involved in.