James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I cannot tell from the Minister of State's response how he proposes to address this issue. There is a window of opportunity between the ages of three and six years where it is possible to make a significant impression on the ultimate outcome for an autistic child. However, a waiting list of up to two years means two thirds of this window may be lost to parents as they wait in frustration for a diagnosis. Many parents are going abroad to seek diagnostic services or doing so privately at extraordinary cost. This is unfair, particularly when we know that early intervention would mean that 50% of these children could move into mainstream education.

What arrangements are in place to provide speech and language therapy and behavioural therapy under the so-called eclectic model to which the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, has referred, in mainstream schools which provide special classes for children with autism? Two schools on the north side of Dublin, for example, have the classrooms, teachers and special needs assistants but cannot secure speech and language and behavioural therapy services.

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