Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Bruton has pulled together in his comments where we want to get to. The child should at all times get the necessary intervention. We should also equip the people who spend eight hours per day in classrooms in developing the skill sets they need to support the child in his or her pathway through education. We need to crack this nut - I used that phrase earlier - for the simple reason that there are too many lists and too many people responsible for them. We need a clear pathway. I see the value in the school inclusion model because we have the therapists who are dedicated to supporting the children all the way through their education as long as they need that support. Nobody should need to time out after six weeks of speech and language therapy while waiting again and wondering whether he or she needs another assessment to continue when he or she is part of the education system. I do not wish to speak on behalf of the education sector but I see completely the value in this.

I also see the value in the 91 network disability teams, which are geographically spaced and which work in collaboration. If children in schools need further intervention at a more complex level, the network disability teams will be able to support them. It is all about using the resources collaboratively and together, cutting out the assessment and getting to the intervention at whatever level the child and the family need it. The frustration of families at present is that they get letters back telling them it could be two years before their child will have his or her initial therapy. Then the child has to get further therapy and is put on another waiting list for that. These children are ageing out of their early years and going to secondary school without having got the other intervention they needed in the beginning. That is where we need to get to.

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