Shane Ross (Independent)

——a letter I received from a parent to put on the record the personal and human feelings involved. The person is a parent of a five year old boy who suffers from autism and is aware of the lack of services provided in Ireland and how one's place of birth can decide how one can cope with the condition. The debate on ABA is, according to this person, a no-brainer. The person claims that, as is clear from the presentation attached to the letter, ABA makes a difference and more hours, rather than a cut-off of 12 hours as proposed by Dr. Fitzgerald, benefit children's social skills. The Government's mix and match approach rather than pure ABA is of no benefit, a finding that is not only supported by a Norwegian study, an enlightened jurisdiction in this debate, but also by research done in UCLA. However, according to this person, the Department of Education and Science and Dr. Fitzgerald, who seems to be the only academic the Department can wheel out to support its approach, cannot show on what evidence their statistics are based. This is rhetoric, but it is a fair point of view. Some nine out of ten children benefit from ABA when it is delivered 26-30 hours per week. The person asks why the one in ten who will not benefit should dictate what the majority needs.

There are ten pilot schools in Leinster, one in Connacht and one in Munster. Prior to the Minister taking office, her predecessor wanted a centre in each county, but the Minister stopped this. People in the Department may have issues with psychologists rather than teachers delivering education to children in ABA centres. The so-called special training for teaching children with autism is an on-line course and some of the teachers the Minister uses as examples of the service she proposes need only an interest in teaching children with autism to be allowed to teach them. This is, according to the person's letter, a Third World approach.

We are returning to the issue touched on by Senator Norris and to which Senator Healy Eames gave more time, namely, equality. There are different discussions going on because the Minister is talking about one thing while parents of children with autism are discussing quality and better training. This is what is necessary.