Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 71: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if home tuition grants will be restored to the 100 autistic children who have had this support cut due to a decision of her Department to no longer allow home tuition grants to children who attend school; if her attention has been drawn to the negative effect this decision is having on the children concerned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5762/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The home tuition scheme is primarily intended to provide compensatory instruction for pupils who have a medical ailment that is likely to cause major disruption to their attendance at school. In this context, my Department provides home tuition grants in respect of pupils who cannot attend school at all or who are absent for a significant proportion of the school year. I stress that children who meet these criteria will continue to qualify for home tuition.

The 100 cases to which Deputy refers, however, concern children attending school on a full-time basis. While my Department sanctions home tuition in cases where children are awaiting a suitable school placement, it is considered that school-based education provision is the most appropriate intervention for all children. In recent years there has been a major expansion in school-based provision for children with autism. A total of 159 special classes for children with autism attached to special schools and mainstream schools have been created, 15 pre-school classes for children with autism have been set up and my Department is currently funding 12 autism-specific facilities, operating on a pilot basis.

The newly established National Council for Special Education and its team of 71 special educational needs organisers is also working across the country to ensure that new services are put in place where needed so that autistic children have access to appropriate school-based provision. With this substantial improvement in school-based services for autistic children, it is no longer considered necessary to give home tuition grants to children who are in full-time education.

There are approximately 100 children with autism who are in full-time educational placements and have continued to receive home tuition grants. These children are enrolled in special school or special class placements or are attending mainstream schools with additional supports, as appropriate. My Department has written to these pupils' parents confirming its intention to discontinue the practice of sanctioning home tuition grants for pupils who are in full-time education. This has also been communicated to the pupils' schools. These cases have been referred to the local special educational needs organisers with a view to them ensuring that each child is getting the appropriate support at school. My Department sanctioned the continuance of the home tuition grant for these pupils until 10 February to allow the special educational needs organisers time to ensure that this is the case. Each pupil's individual circumstances is being considered by the organisers and future provision will reflect individual needs.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Does the Minister accept that it is very mean to cut this service for 100 autistic children who benefited from it until now? I accept there may be a need to examine how the money was being spent or to reform the system to ensure the money was being well spent but we are talking here about autistic children who are in mainstream schools and who have additional needs over and above those of their classmates. I ask the Minister to examine this issue herself. There are now 100 families who have lost a support for their very needy children that they enjoyed until now. I urge her to re-examine these cases.

The special educational needs organisers cannot do anything about this because, according to individual parents I have spoken to, the organisers are implementing a policy decision of the Department that these children will not have home tuition grants. The organisers, therefore, cannot give them anything extra outside of school hours. The issue lies with the Department and I ask the Minister to respond to my concerns.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rather than seeing this as a cut, I would see it as a development in that full-time schooling has been provided for these children.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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They had that already.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The home tuition grant is designed for children who are not in school. What is really important is that these children get the type of education they deserve and need in whatever school setting they are in, be that a special class, special school or a mainstream school. Where a child is in a mainstream school, I understand that he or she also has five hours of resource teaching, which is over and above what the other children in the class would receive, as well as access to special needs assistant support. Each case is being supported.

What parents want for their autistic children, in a general sense, is that they would receive an education appropriate to their needs. I accept — notwithstanding what has already been done — that there is still an enormous amount that needs to be done for autistic children throughout the country. However, I want to do that work in the context of a school setting, whatever that setting might be, that is most appropriate for the children. That does not include paying a home tuition grant as well as giving them school provision.

Where school provision is not available and a child is awaiting a placement, the home tuition grant will still be paid. The home tuition grant is available for children with autism from the age of two and a half, for early intervention. Real work can be done with those children before they enter a school setting. I know the home tuition grant has been valuable to these children but now they have been provided with a place in a special class, a special school or a mainstream school and it is generally accepted that these are the best places for the education of children.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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These people had full-time tuition in school as well as the home tuition grants, so it is a cut, in that sense, for the individual families. Many parents of autistic children are demanding an ABA system of education. If the Department had to pay for such a system, as opposed to the mainstream system, where in the case of one of these children, the class size is 29, it would be much more expensive than providing a home tuition grant. Providing extra support for these very needy children who place very heavy demands on their parents in the evenings, as well as when they are at school, is money well spent. The amount of money in question is very small and I urge the Minster to re-examine this issue.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of the home tuition grant is to assist children whose education needs are not being met by virtue of having a place in a school or a special class.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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The Minister could be more flexible.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is provided for children who are out of school for medical reasons, missing school for protracted periods or who do not have a school place. There are children who do not have a place in school and the home tuition grant will continue to be paid in respect of those children. However, I am very anxious, through the National Council for Special Education, the special needs organisers and the schools which these children are attending, that their individual needs will be met there. Reports have been received on each child and have either gone, or are going, to the National Council for Special Education and each case will be examined to ensure the children's needs will be met in the school setting.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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The special needs organisers feel that the Minister has made a policy decision which they cannot change.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The policy decision on not paying the home tuition grant to children in full-time education whose needs are being met in the schools has been taken, but it is to ensure that their needs will be met in the school setting, and that is the requirement now.