John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Just as with the cystic fibrosis debate last week, we are highlighting the plight of families whose children are denied what should be their right. The suffering and frustration of the families of children with autism is always there. The rest of us are only acutely aware of it when cases such as the one last week hit the headlines.

I have attended meetings where the pain and suffering of parents is etched on every face in the room. One father praised his wife for looking after their son while he was at work and equated it to a life sentence. What does one say to parents who have raised thousands of euro on a voluntary basis and acquired a free site for an applied behavioural analysis school in Mayo? The answer of the Minister is to block them at every move and spend millions defending the Department's stance in the courts. The money spent defending many of these cases would provide the resources necessary to expand the current ABA pilot scheme. It is ironic that the report of the task force on autism a number of years ago recommended that the key stakeholders, and parents in particular, be consulted on the development of educational policy in respect of autism. That is not the experience of most parents I met. These parents are very reasonable in their approach. They are not looking for ABA to be used exclusively as a teaching method but merely point out the benefits it can have at an early stage and how the gains made can significantly improve the children's chances of joining mainstream classes earlier than would otherwise be the case.

I also met with the parents of an autistic boy who use the Son-Rise method of instruction for their son. This method is based on the American style where parents are trained to teach their children in the family home. The father of one such boy has taken a career break to teach his child. He spent €20,000 on a training course in America yet has difficulty getting hours of home tuition granted by the Department except on a month-by-month basis. He has to tell the same Department six months in advance whether he wants to continue his career break for the next year.

People who have observed this debate over the past week must really doubt the Minister's basis for her Department's current policy when they see the co-author of the Government task force taking the Minister to task for her misguided policy on education for autistic children, and also stating that the Minister's stance is marked by a number of errors and a misunderstanding of ABA. Perhaps the Minister will explain on what scientific evidence she based her policy approach to autism. This is the least that the supporters of ABA deserve.

Where there are special autistic units within mainstream schools there is a great need for a better pupil-teacher ratio than 1:6, which is the current situation. I have visited those schools as well as the ABA schools. No teacher should be required to take more than four children in these special classes.

Speech and language therapy is a requirement for most children with special needs, whether they are autistic or have another disability. It is totally unacceptable that children progress through school without proper attention in this area year on year. All that is required is agreement between the Health Service Executive and the Department of Education and Science to incorporate speech and language therapy into the education system, as is the case in the UK where speech therapists are employed by the education authorities and this provides for the needs of children. There is a tremendous reluctance on the part of both Ministers concerned to come to this arrangement, as was necessary when the former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, integrated care assistants in the schools under his Department. The Government was practically forced to comply following long consultation with the Ombudsman's office at the time. Autistic children deserve a better deal than they are getting. They deserve a fair deal. It is still not too late to change. I strongly commend the Fine Gael motion.

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