Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. I advise him that the Department's policy is to promote a child-centred approach to the education of all children with special educational needs, including those with autism.

Autism is a spectrum disorder and each child will have individual needs. Accordingly, they should have access to a range of approaches to meet their individual needs. The preferred approach is to provide for the education of children with autism through the primary and post-primary school network which facilitates access to individualised education programmes and fully qualified professional teachers who may draw on a range of autism specific interventions, including applied behaviour analysis, ABA, the treatment and education of autistic communication handicapped children programme and the picture exchange communications system. In school settings children with autism may have access to individualised education plans, fully qualified professional teachers, special needs assistants and the appropriate school curriculum with the option, where possible and appropriate, of full or partial integration and interaction with other pupils.

The child centred policy is based on advice received from the National Educational Psychological Service, the Department's inspectorate and the report of the Irish task force on autism and takes full account of advice from a range of experts on autism. The Department recognises that specialised training and continued professional development is important for staff working with children with special educational needs. The Department supports the provision of continued professional development through the Special Education Support Service which was specifically established for this purpose.

The Special Education Support Service co-ordinates and delivers a range of professional development initiatives and support structures for school personnel working with students with special educational needs, including autism. The Department remains willing to review and consider any further research as and when it becomes available and is conscious of the need to adapt existing policies and develop new ones as new research or learning becomes available. In this regard, I advise the House that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is preparing policy advice on the education of children with autism. The Minister specifically asked the NCSE for this advice and to review, with particular reference to educational and social outcomes, the effectiveness of the range of evidence based practices and interventions for the education of children with autism. She also asked it to identify the nature and extent of educational interventions, teaching practices and other supports which should be provided to enable children with autism to achieve educational outcomes appropriate to their needs and abilities. I expect that it will consider all evidence based interventions and that this will include the intervention to which the Senator has referred.

In this context, the Minister does not want to prejudge the outcome of the work of the NCSE, the policy advice of which will be delivered in the spring of 2015 and draw on findings gathered from an extensive consultation process with parents, schools, professional service providers and other stakeholders which is nearing completion. The advice will also draw on new research commissioned by the NCSE for this purpose, as well as any other research which may be available and which it considers merits consideration. The Minister expects that its final report will reflect the broadest possible range of views and provide recommendations which will assist the development of policy and educational interventions for children with autism for future years.

I thank the House, on behalf of the Minister, for the opportunity to discuss this very important matter and inform it of the important work being undertaken by the NCSE. I have every confidence that the policy advice will provide a strong basis for future educational provision for children with autism in Ireland.