Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Cowley for raising this matter which is of grave concern to him. I am as anxious as the Deputy to ensure there is true equality of access to psychological assessments and remedial intervention for all children with learning difficulties. The National Educational Psychological Service has made considerable investments in the provision of additional resources for children with special educational needs. The programme of the last Government contained a commitment to developing psychological services for children and young people. A planning group established to review provision in this area reported in mid-September 1998. The central recommendation in the report was the establishment of a NEPS agency under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science with a dedicated role in the development and provision of an educational psychological service and with a new organisational structure.

Following a Government decision that approved the findings of the planning group, the NEPS agency came into being on 1 September 1999. On that date 43 Department psychologists began working in NEPS. NEPS has delegated authority to develop and provide an educational psychological service to all students who need it in primary and post-primary schools and in certain other centres supported by the Department. The target staffing level recommended by the planning group is 200 psychologists. Notwithstanding the time-consuming aspects of recruiting professional staff, the Department has appointed a substantial number of additional psychologists since 1999 for assignment to NEPS. The total number of psychologists serving in NEPS is 127, including one on assignment to other duties in the Department of Education and Science. Four other psychologists are on career break at present, bringing the total to 131. The Department intends to continue to recruit additional psychologists to make up the shortfall as resources permit and bearing in mind the general staffing constraints at present.

NEPS is currently in a position to provide a psychological service to most second level schools and approximately 1,760 primary schools. In Mayo, NEPS provides a service to 81.78% of all schools, serving 88.28% of pupils. Eventually, when NEPS is at full strength, its psychologists will be able to provide a full educational psychological service to all primary and post-primary schools. However, it has not been possible to expand this service to all schools at once. It is of equal importance that the development of the new agency will be done in an equitable and orderly manner while ensuring that school children are not left without essential assessment services.

A draft detailed five-year expansion plan, including proposals, region by region, for the allocation of additional psychologists and for the location of NEPS offices, was approved in April 2000 by the NEPS national policy advisory board. It was inevitable that during the development period there would remain a backlog of assessment work. However, good progress has been made in general.

In the case of the child referred to by the Deputy, inquiries have been made with NEPS. The school in question, Scoil Naomh Feichin, Attymass, has been in receipt of a service from NEPS since 2000. The child's older sibling was first referred to NEPS on 19 September 2003 and was assessed by the assigned NEPS psychologist on 30 September 2003, following which a psychological report was issued to the school. This was an exceptionally speedy response. Prior to the assessment, the psychologist met the parents and gave them direct feedback in September 2003. The older sibling is currently in receipt of learning support provision and the psychologist has recommended an extension of this provision.

I understand that the teachers in the school do not consider the younger boy to be a priority for individual psychological assessment at this time. However, the fact that a child has not been assessed for dyslexia does not prevent access to the learning support service that is available to schools. The child in question is currently receiving learning support. However, it has been requested that the NEPS psychologist for the school consult the school principal and class teacher without delay and ensure that the matter is kept under review.

Learning support is the most appropriate intervention for children with specific learning disabilities. Learning support teachers have access to a variety of diagnostic tests that enable them to put an individual learning programme into place immediately. Under the current system of special education resourcing, the small number of children who fail to make progress with the learning support teacher may have access to additional resource teaching hours, provided they have been assessed by an educational psychologist as having a severe learning disability.

The Department of Education and Science is aware that there have been delays for some children in accessing such individual assessments. Recently, the Department announced a move to a weighted system for the allocation of special education resources. This means that each school will be sufficiently resourced to provide automatically for children with dyslexia. This will ensure a speedy and efficient response to such difficulties. Most importantly, it will ensure that all children with have equal access to the resources they need, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances. I thank the Deputy once again for raising this matter in the House.

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