Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue as it gives me an opportunity to clarify to the House the position on the special class in the school in question. The Deputy will be aware that the Government is committed to ensuring all children with special educational needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post-primary school network. Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers, with the support of special needs assistants and the appropriate school curriculum.

The Deputy will also be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is responsible, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants to schools to support students with special educational needs, including autism. It is also its role to make appropriate arrangements to establish special classes in schools in communities where the need for such classes has been identified.

Children with autism can enrol in an early intervention class from the age of three years and, if they are assessed at a younger age, home tuition can be provided from the age of two and a half. Special classes within mainstream schools are intended for children who, by virtue of their level of special educational needs, cannot reasonably be educated in a mainstream class setting but who can still attend their local school in a special class with a lower pupil-teacher ratio of 6:1 and SNA support. The total number of special classes for children with special educational needs, including autism, in mainstream schools throughout the country at the end of 2013 was 737, of which 564 were in primary schools and 173 in post-primary schools. Some 74 are early intervention classes which have been established for younger children with autism.

The NCSE has advised my Department that there are 17 children in four special classes for autism in the school referred to by the Deputy. One of the four classes is an early intervention class in which children from the age of three years can be enrolled. From September, the children in the early intervention class will move up to the autism special classes in the school. On this basis, the early intervention class will be suppressed. The remaining three special classes are not full. There are, in fact, two special class places available.

While the NCSE is aware that children in the area are being assessed, there is no indication at this time that an early intervention class for children who have completed assessments will be required from September. The NCSE, through the local SENO, will continue to liaise with the HSE to determine if further special class provision is required. If additional provision is required, the NCSE will establish additional special classes to meet the need for such classes in the local area.

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