Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is easy to come to the House and criticise issues in the area of education. One does not need a PhD to find problems because we do not live in a perfect world. As Government spokesperson in the Seanad on education I have much to say, but there is too little time to cover as wide a debate as that on special educational needs.

As in other areas of Government, there have been significant moves forward in the past decade. One of the first issues I raised on the Adjournment debate in the Dáil, which is almost 12 years ago, related to Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana. I was distraught, like my constituents, when we were told the one classroom support post that existed for their mild mental handicap class was to be removed when a profound handicap class was to be established. I was even more distraught on the night of the Adjournment debate because not only did the Minister at the time, Niamh Bhreathnach, not turn up for the debate in person, the Minister of State at her Department, Deputy Bernard Allen, was sent in to deliver a speech on the wrong school. Those were the days. Thankfully, things have changed.

I must put on record what has happened since in that school, from 1997 to 2007 because it is worth comparing. Enrolment was 552 in 1997 and staffing included one principal, 18 mainstream class teachers, one remedial teacher, one teacher for mildly mentally handicapped students and one resource teacher. The school had 651 pupils in 2007, an extra 100 pupils, and staffing includes one principal, 25 mainstream class teachers, three learning support teachers, two resource teachers, eight teachers in eight special classes, three temporary language support teachers, one post for administrative deputy principal and 32 special needs assistants. The school has four special classes for children with autism, two moderate classes, one class for severe-profound and one class for specific learning difficulty. The school acquired its deputy administrative principal so that the principal could act in the role required to support the services available in the school. It has services for low-instance special needs and more in-depth needs and embraces issues above and beyond particular issues, be they autism or Down's syndrome.

It is good to put on record the then and now. There has been a major move forward. I commend the Minister. Far from being arrogant, she is active, interested and on the ground. She has visited these schools and seen the situation for herself. She has seen the action that has taken place. I am delighted that this week we saw 20 special needs students graduate from Trinity College Dublin with a third level qualification. Perhaps in 1997 people might have scoffed at the idea that these people would even aspire to a third level qualification. I raise my hat to all involved in that regard.

I wish to underline the tremendous work of some groups in my area who are trying to improve facilities in the special needs sector, especially inside and outside school. These include iCare, Cashel na Cor, and North East Inishowen Special Needs Association. Their work is to be seen locally in the bricks and mortar and in the advanced planning stages of other activities. The group iCare is autism specific and is made up of parents of autistic children. It is supported by many in the community and there has been significant fund-raising to add to funding received for extra-curricular activities. That has been embraced by the entire community. Everybody now knows about the ICARE group. There is no child hidden in the closet, as would have been the case a number of years ago. The children are very much a part of the community and the community is very much a part of them. Part of that stems from the fund-raising activities they carry out in the community. While I am not endorsing the fact that they must fund raise, it has a beneficial spin-off through the community involvement in the special needs area.

They have bought a bus to enable the children to get beyond the home-school environment. They have developed a facility for after-school activities, which was opened by Mr. Keith Duffy recently. As a result of Government funding provided last year, we are in a position to have a music therapist in situ for children with special needs across the peninsula.

In respect of the recent debate on ABA, I offer my opinion, not my expertise. As time is progressing, new information is coming to light practically every day. I have spent some time studying the emerging scientific evidence relating to music therapy. Having reported on the topic two years ago, I have continued to read into it and have learned of the value of music therapy for the development of speech and the reduction of repetitive behaviour in autistic children. These are two aspects which are becoming more widely accepted in terms of the evidence emerging scientifically that music therapy intervention is as valid as any other intervention for those with special needs.

I raise this issue to display the fact that there is more than one approach that can be of assistance to a range of special needs students. The scene is constantly evolving. That is not to say I reject anything I have heard to date regarding the effectiveness of ABA, an approach that is very much favoured by people in my area, as is PECS and TEACCH. However, not all children gain from any one approach and therefore I counsel against closing the door to other options.

I look forward to the results of the report on CABAS in Cork, which was a pilot scheme set up a number of years ago. This work has been evaluated and lessons have been learned. I understand that those involved have made an application to become a special school, which is an interesting issue in itself. I hope the Minister will meet those who evaluated the work on music therapy carried out in Scoil Íosagáin as those who have been touched by the approach are extolling its virtues. This is not just relevant to autism, but cuts across the whole spectrum of special needs.

I know that speaking of an unrecognised or misunderstood therapy at a time when conventional therapies are seen to be less than satisfactory will wind up some people. However, I ask people to be informed before they are angered and to read into the subject and not dismiss it idly. I also accept that we need far more access to all therapies, but I stand over the central value of the arts therapies in this area.

Unlike Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, I feel that the starting point that is not really accepted in the area of special education is that of assessment. How do we know what works best and what is a quality intervention for a child if we have not evaluated him or her? It seems wrong that in schools that are currently serviced by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, it will not carry out assessments on, observations of, or visits to children who are enrolled in special classes. This is the current experience. Should such children not be priority students by definition of their placement in a special class in either a mainstream or special school? I am led to believe there is a recruitment issue involved here but in the meantime, these children have no psychological interventions. In practice, this leaves teachers very much on their own at a time when the spirit of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act advocates a multi-disciplinary approach. There are very few schools that are not trying to embrace the idea of integration. There is an enormous level of willingness to work with the Minister to support special needs children in each classroom. The difficulty arises when a teacher does not have the required expertise in a particular area, especially if he or she is just a general classroom teacher who came out of the training system before the current retraining and support systems were put in place.