Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very disturbing case. I am asking the Minister for Education and Skills to investigate the serious case of an 11-year-old boy. I have given the boy's name and school to the Department. He has high-functioning autism and ADHD. His rights appear to be infringed in that he is not receiving an appropriate education for his needs. He has been locked in an isolation room from 15 to 18 January and he now faces expulsion because he is unable to do his schoolwork. The parents have given me the details of the case. I have not met the child or the parents but they have asked me to put on record the case of Oisín, who is attending Clocha Rince national school, Moyvalley, County Kildare. I have been contacted by friends who are friends of the family.

It appears the boy has challenging behaviour. He has high-functioning autism and he attends the school's ASD unit, where he was mainstreamed against the parents wishes and the best professional advice available to the school. The services he requires, such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychiatry and psychology are delivered by the westside Beechpark services team working out of Johnstown, Naas. The boy also has a behavioural analyst supplied and paid for by Irish Autism Action. Once every two months, for the past two and a half years, the multidisciplinary team met to assess Oisín's progress and to deal with any matters that have arisen since the previous meeting. His behaviour has been a major concern for the team, which is acknowledged by the parents. His behavioural analyst has made recommendations on how to manage his behaviour to the team and the school has constantly ignored the recommendations, according to the parents.

At the end of the school term, last July, the parents were informed that the resource hours Oisín was receiving were to be taken away because he was in the unit and was not entitled to them. The problem is that the unit did not put anything in place for Oisín and the progress made in the past number of years started to be lost. The family started the 2012-13 school year with Oisín spending all day in mainstream education, with no resource hours of any kind. He was struggling to comprehend maths. He is now receiving nothing in terms of special education, in keeping with his attachment to the unit and his educational needs.

Before the Christmas break, he had a number of days where he spent almost the entire day in what is called the isolation room or the quiet room. It is an empty 8 ft by 6 ft space that Oisín is taken to when he has a meltdown or when he needs some time out. The room is used with the parents' permission but only for short times and was never intended to be used for hours on end. The December issue was resolved and the principal turned down an offer by Beechpark to have the January multidisciplinary team meeting changed to December, saying he was happy that everything was sorted to his satisfaction. Upon the recommencement of the school year in January, after the Christmas break, it became clear Oisín was having a lot of trouble being in the mainstream class all day. His lunch breaks were usually used as punishment to get him to complete his schoolwork because his use of the OT room had been stopped since before Christmas. This was also some form of punishment. Everything a child with ADHD would need during a school day, including movement breaks, yard breaks and OT, were taken from him.

On Monday, 14 January, the parents report that Oisín had an okay day at school but the next day, the trouble started. By close of school on Tuesday, 15 February, he had spent the better part of the day in the isolation room. By Wednesday and Thursday, 16 and 17 January, he had spent two entire days in the quiet room. It was made clear to the staff that the parents did not believe this was working but they were told to stick with it. By Friday, Oisín had had enough. On Friday morning, 18 January, he was in a distressed state and had not been sleeping well because he was concerned that he would be locked in the isolation room again. Oisín's mother had to leave to bring her sick mother to hospital in Dublin but explained to the teacher that she had grave reservations about leaving her son there because of the distressed state he was in. His distress was made worse by the fact he had been told he could bring his skateboard into school and it was then taken from him. The teacher and the SNA assured the mother everything would be fine and told her to head off on her way. A text sent at 10.30 a.m. told the mother he was okay and that all was under control.

Within an hour, phone calls were being received from the school by both parents. Oisín's father has Parkinson's disease and was not in a position to drive so the mother had to leave her sick mother in hospital in Dublin and return to the school, not knowing what was the problem.