Dáil debates
Thursday, 11 October 2018
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Special Educational Needs Service Provision
4:55 pm
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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On Monday evening, Deputies Jack Chambers, Coppinger and I attended a packed meeting of parents, professionals, education providers, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and public representatives in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, representing people from Dublin 15 and Dublin 7. The committee which called the meeting comprises a group of parents of children with autism and professionals who have worked with children with autism in the area for more than ten years.
The parents who called the meeting on Monday night in Blanchardstown are firmly of the view that an innovation is required in the form of an ASD special school for Dublin 15. Dublin 15 and the adjacent parts of Dublin 7 along the Navan Road have a population of approximately 120,000, which is considerably bigger than either Limerick or Waterford, but there is no special school for children with severe ASD. There are 32 primary schools and 11 secondary schools in Dublin 15, but at primary level there are only 18 ASD classes with approximately 108 students and only eight secondary school ASD classes with approximately 32 students. The parents firmly believe that a special school is required for a portion of children with ASD who have complex presentations of autism and who present with significant needs. The majority of children with moderate to severe autism are non-verbal, are unable to cope to mainstream classroom settings and do not benefit from integration. There was a unanimous opinion on that at the meeting of more than 150 people.
Will the Minister agree to meet representatives of the parents and the professionals at the meeting and the local Deputies to enable us to have a discussion about when we can get this urgently required school for children with ASD?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Like Deputy Burton, I attended a meeting of parents, professionals and people involved in this new campaign. Many of the parents said that evening that six year old children had been expelled from a school through no fault of their own but because they have severe behavioural difficulties. As a country we have progressed in this area over the past 20 years, with ASD units established and special needs assistants provided for, but ASD, as the name suggests, is a spectrum disorder. With children with moderate to severe diagnosis, sometimes the classification we have in our education system does not match their requirements. We have had a policy of inclusion from the Department but that has resulted in some instances in the exclusion of many children from exercising their right to an education.
Parents in Dublin West want an autism special school established in order that there is a proper educational healthcare mix of occupational therapists, teachers and speech and language therapists in order that the children's behavioural difficulties can be dealt with and their educational rights can be provided for. To hear parents saying their child was put on a reduced day, or that their child was eventually expelled because the education system we have cannot cater for them, where their child is then left lingering at home without any hope, prospect or opportunity to be the best he or she can be in his or her life, is a tragic circumstance in our education system and it must be rectified. Parents in Dublin West who may want to go to a special school often have to travel more than 30 km. Dublin West is a constituency close to the Minister's, and we have a population the size of many other cities in the country. The parents' campaign should be supported by the Minister and his Department. As Deputy Burton said, the parents would like in the first instance to present the data, facts and their own stories to the Minister in order that his officials can meet and support what the parents are trying to establish and that the children are given the best chance in life. That is what we are looking for and we hope to work with the Minister on it.
Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. It is an area in which huge investment has been made in my own time and, to be fair, in that of my predecessors. Since 2011, as Deputy Burton will know, we have increased spending on the support of children with special needs by 43%. It has risen consistently, therefore, even in the most difficult times, to €1.8 billion. It is a provision that is based entirely on the assessment of need, that is, not on any budgetary restrictions. Based on a professional assessment, the NCSE decides how children with ASD should best be provided for.
I do not have the figures with me but, roughly speaking, more than 60% are provided for in mainstream classes. The remainder are split evenly between ASD special classes within mainstream schools and special schools. In recent years, however, because of the advice that the inclusion model is the optimal model, the expansion and explosion of provision has been in special classes. The number of special classes has trebled since 2011 and continues to grow every year. It is the NCSE that advises me and the building units of my Department as to the appropriate need. There have not been many additional special schools. I am not aware of any new special school being created in recent times but that is not to say that it cannot be, if the NCSE believes that is the best approach.
The main expansion has been the effort to integrate children with ASD within units in mainstream schools. That is better for their development. If the NCSE advises that a special school would be an alternative placement, then the NCSE, through its special education needs organisers, SENOs, would seek an appropriate placement. The decision has to be made on additional provision year by year. One new power, of which the Deputies will be aware, that we took in the recent Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 was to give me the power, in certain circumstances and on the advice of the NCSE, to require a school to open an ASD unit where a school may be reluctant to do so.
Deputy Burton is right. There are 18 special ASD units in the area. There will be a need for additional units and we are providing in the 2019 budget for additional ASD classes to be opened throughout the country in areas where they are identified as being needed. I am sure Dublin 15 would be an area where that would be the case. I am not, however, the one who makes the call as to whether a placement for a particular child is best in a special school, a special class or in a mainstream setting. In any event, we provide support, as Deputy Burton knows. In my own relatively short period in the Department, we have appointed 1,800 additional resource teachers and 4,000 additional SNAs to support the integration of children into our school system. We will provide the best support advised by the NCSE and based on the individual assessments of each child. That is what we seek to deliver.
5:05 pm
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department has to take responsibility for the education of these children. The parents have no difficulty with the ASD special units. We all know they have done very good work for the children for whom they are appropriate. It must be borne in mind, and this may come as a shock to the Minister, that for the school year 2017-2018 there were, as far as we know, 56 students on the home tuition grant in Dublin 15 and more in Dublin 7. That is an astonishing figure. These are children who have very specific needs. Their school and mainstream teachers are unable to cope with the behavioural issues. These include flight risks, self-harm from time to time, sensory overload - parents stress that in particular - and violent outbursts at times as the children are unable to express themselves effectively. The meeting with parents the other night would have brought tears to the Minister's eyes. I urge him to meet the parents and the professionals. I know that would constitute a change of policy but this is a section of our children. They have been left out and deserve a chance to get the education appropriate to their lives.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It would be worth the Minister's while meeting these parents so that they can describe to him the challenges their children face daily. As Deputy Burton has mentioned, 56 children are on a home tuition grant. Many of them have been excluded by our education system because it is not fit for purpose for them. I recognise there is a policy of inclusion in ASD units and some children thrive within those units. That is not the case for people with severe autism who are non-verbal and are not receiving the appropriate healthcare and educational interventions. Teachers cannot even cope with the difficulties in managing the children in that setting. We need to have a policy response. We are not doing that at present within the current policy construct that we have through the NCSE.
I ask the Minister to meet the parents to see what their proposal is. They want the best for their children. He mentioned the assessment of needs process. We know that takes years. Our whole community healthcare intervention is not appropriate. The parents want the proper mix to be delivered for children with very complex needs. We should not be expelling six year olds from classrooms in primary schools and leaving them on home tuition grants to linger without any opportunity or prospect in life. That is not the Department that the Minister wants to run. A meeting would open his eyes. It certainly opened mine on Monday to see the depth of this problem and the sheer numbers of children left at sea in our education system.
Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I assure Deputy Jack Chambers that we are providing a policy response all of the time. As I outlined, since 2016 we have delivered 1,800 extra resource teachers, 4,000 extra SNAs, 500 additional ASD units, and 30 additional National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, staff. We strengthened the inclusion service of the NCSE itself to support parents, teachers and students. We have also reformed the way in which resource teachers are allocated to make it more in tune with the needs of pupils, and that is being done on the advice of the NCSE. We are starting to pilot, and it may include some of the areas mentioned by the Deputies, the integration of certain therapies into schools to deliver additional therapies, be that speech and language or occupational therapy. In addition, this coming year we are commencing the implementation of the NCSE's recent report on how SNAs should be delivered in a broader context of having a regional centre that can provide a range of therapies, including nursing supports and other appropriate supports.
The advice of the NCSE to me has been that this is the way we should develop the suite of policies to support children best. I am always open to policy change but I do have to rely on the NCSE. It has not let us down in respect of the advice and the inclusive way in which it evaluates needs. Here in the House, we have taken additional powers. I now have the power, on the advice of the NCSE, to instruct a school to do things. That is a power we never had before. I am always open to initiatives and, as a result of this debate, I will ask the NCSE to assess the needs in Dublin 15 and adjoining areas, and to look at the proposal coming from the parents.