Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute this evening to the debate on services for children with special needs, in particular educational services for children diagnosed with autism. I acknowledge the work of all those involved to date and outline some ideas for further development and improvement in services for children with autism. As a former special needs teacher in Celbridge, I have witnessed at first hand the dramatic improvements that have taken place in the area of special needs. Parents of children with autism have, rightly, more choices now. Their children can attend special classes in mainstream schools, attend a mainstream class with additional support or attend a special school.

This progress would not have been achieved without the commitment of Government to funding and, more significantly, the huge dedication and commitment of parents of children with autism. I fully appreciate the sacrifices many parents make, of which I am aware not only from my teaching career but also from meeting parents in my constituency, particularly those involved in the Saplings school in Kill. They must take some comfort that all their hard work has led to significant policy changes, bringing improvements to the lives of their children.

It is recognised that early intervention is critical to ensuring that children with autism get the most appropriate services. I welcome the opening last year of a pre-school autistic unit attached to the Derrinturn primary school, one of 23 autism specific pre-schools established nationally. I welcome the Minister's commitment in her speech last night to the expansion of the pre-school network for autism. Services for school-age children with autism have moved from a very limited provision a few years ago to a position now where there are 3,600 children in special classes in mainstream or in special schools.

As with many other challenges we face, a partnership approach offers the best opportunity to develop a set of policies which will maximise the benefit for children with autism. We have already seen the benefits of this approach with the achievements to date, in particular with ABA schools. For instance, I am aware from my contact with the Saplings ABA school in Kill that, where appropriate, children are eased into mainstream schools. The co-operation, back-up and follow-up is comprehensive between educators in both schools.

I believe that teachers should be appointed to ABA schools. Working in tandem with ABA tutors, teachers and tutors will bring the necessary set of skills to enable a smooth transition between special schools and mainstream schools. Likewise, ABA tutors are in an ideal position to give practical support to teachers in mainstream schools. This sharing of knowledge and expertise is a key enabler to ensure that we offer the best level of service to our special children. While it is now recognised that ABA is not the only teaching method for children with autism, it is an important method of intervention and should be available to children with autism in all settings.

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