Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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63. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether updated special needs reports should be ceased given that schools are still seeking updated reports for children with special needs, particularly for secondary schools, and the fact that parents are stressed attempting to access private assessments to obtain a place for their child. [58413/22]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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What is the Minister of State's view on whether updated special needs reports should be ceased, given that schools are still seeking updated reports for children with special needs, in particular for secondary schools, and the fact that parents are stressed attempting to access private assessments to obtain a place for their child? Private assessments can cost anything up to €1,500, so it is an expensive avenue.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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This is based on the NCSE's advice in its guidance document from 2021 regarding health professionals reports. In the first place, the report must indicate whether a child has a specific diagnosis, and then there must be some understanding of the complexity of the child's needs, what placement would be appropriate and the rationale for it. That is the NCSE's advice in that regard. An updated assessment is required when a child transitions from primary school to post-primary school. This is something post-primary schools might look for in their admission policies as well. While there is some merit in providing new assessments and reviewing a child's needs on an ongoing basis, we do need to move away from parents having to pay for the reports privately. Deputy Collins mentioned that in her question.

We must also look at whether the reports are needed or whether a more continuous review of educational needs would be better. As it stands, there is the professional report and the admissions policy, and the details are shared in the transition process between schools at primary and post-primary levels to support the transition. A lot of those details might be taken from the student's support file. There is also the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, education passport, which provides a structured process for schools to share information to support the transition of pupils with special educational needs. It is not always used, but it can be used. Schools often prioritise the involvement of a NEPS psychologist as well to support the transition. I will update Deputy Collins on what we are doing when I next respond to her.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I was asked to put the question to the Minister of State by members of the Campaign 4 Autism Inclusion in Dublin 12. What they are seeing now are the difficulties posed for many of their children who have gone through primary school and are moving on to secondary school. As Deputy Ward said, many parents are starting to worry. One of the criteria for most secondary schools is that a child needs an updated report to access an autism class, irrespective of whether the child was attending an autism class at primary level. The campaign is raising the need to change the system. If a child is diagnosed as autistic, the diagnosis should carry through the child's educational life. The campaign suggests that there should be a supporting letter on a child's needs from the NEPS or a children's disability network team, CDNT, and that liaising with a primary school and parents should be sufficient rather than having families break the bank to get a private assessment of needs.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Given the passage of time since a pupil may have been assessed, it is common practice that pupils are reassessed ahead of transitioning to post-primary school. The assessment may assist both the pupil and the post-primary school in determining the most appropriate supports that are required for the pupil and how the school can best support the individual to integrate into mainstream classes, where possible. A review is ongoing, and the work is at an initial stage. There is a meeting today with the inspectorate, NEPS and the NCSE. It is envisaged that broader stakeholder engagement will also be undertaken on this sensitive issue for parents and children with special educational needs.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I welcome that. Does the Minister of State know how long the review will take? We will have a perfect storm with parents trying to find places in secondary schools in the time ahead unless we move very quickly to get special classes into secondary schools. There is also pressure on parents being out of pocket for €1,500 or more as they try to get an assessment of needs for their children prior to them accessing secondary level. The group is raising the issue with the Minister of State in order to map out some way to assist parents and school principals to bring their children from primary level, in particular those in special classes, into secondary school and to address their needs.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the Minister of State's work in this area and thank her for it. This applies to a number of schools throughout the country, including in my constituency of Kildare North. I tabled separate questions about them. I refer in particular to schools that are affected by increased demand due to population increases. Even new schools are not in a position to take the students. There is a necessity to accommodate such students, on foot of a previous agreement. I emphasise the importance of making that special accommodation for them at this particular stage. All delays will obviously impact severely on the students and their parents.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I will respond to Deputy Durkan first and then speak to the matter raised by Deputy Collins. As I mentioned in response to a previous question, 742 special classes in post-primary schools were opened this year but there are 1,803 special classes in primary schools, so there is already a gap in that regard. As I outlined, that is why I wrote the letter to all post-primary schools, stating that over the next five years each post-primary school will have to open four special classes. We need to close that gap. I mentioned earlier in response to Deputy Ó Laoghaire the forward planning that we are doing.

As regards the body of work that is being done, I understand some of the points made, for example, on cost. We must move away from people trying to pay privately for the assessments. When we have the classes set up in post-primary schools, we want to make sure that people can go to them and avail of the capacity. The work is at the initial stage. It is part of a wider range of initiatives being taken by the Department and the NCSE on the forward planning of special education. The initial work is on how placements are reviewed on an ongoing basis.