Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and all the Members who spoke on the motion. I acknowledge Sarah and Darragh in the Gallery and hope an appropriate school placement for their son Freddie is identified without delay.

Our population is increasing quite quickly. With that, the percentage of individuals with disabilities is increasing. In particular, the prevalence of autism is anticipated to reach 4.3% of the population. We are going to see a lot more people requiring support. I acknowledge that many autistic children attend mainstream school and need little or no support, but some will need more. The Minister of State referred to inclusive education. We need to look at a more inclusive education form.

While there is a need for special schools for those with much more complex disabilities, I do think parents might agree to send their child to a mainstream school if they could be assured that the supports the child needs are going to be present in the school. A lot of parents believe their child would not survive in a mainstream school because they have a vision of a mainstream school without the proper supports, and that is the case in some instances. I taught for many years in a mainstream school. I taught autistic children and children with Down’s syndrome, those with mild and moderate learning difficulties and those with physical disabilities. It was a very inclusive space and it benefited all of the children in the school because they were all mixed. They all accepted each other for their differences and so forth. The NCSE, the Department and all of us need to look at that. With the increase in the number of students who may have additional needs, we need to make sure they can be educated with their siblings in their own community and can get an appropriate education in that sphere.

I commend the NCSE on its work. The fact that it has increased the number of SENOs is really welcome. The SENOs were overloaded with work and did not know the students they were dealing with. They could not because they had too many to know. They are committed to getting to know all the students and ensuring they can be placed in an appropriate school setting based on that. The Minister of State said he, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Department are working with the NCSE. That is welcome and has to be done on an ongoing basis to ensure everyone gets the place they need.

The key comes back to the therapies. That the therapies are not being provided in the community is having a devastating effect on children and their ability to learn. We had therapists in our special schools but they were withdrawn about five years ago. We are now looking at a pilot programme to put them back in. I am not sure why we need a pilot programme to put therapists back into special schools when they used to be in special schools. We cannot put therapists into special schools only, however. Otherwise, when parents are not getting the support in the community, they will all want their children to attend the special schools so that they can avail of the much-needed therapies. Some of the schools were talking to me about having therapists come into their schools, if there could be therapists provided to a cluster of schools to provide supports there. The school inclusion model is something I admired, and I think the Minister of State did as well. It was piloted in CHO 7 in schools in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. Talking to the NCSE yesterday, I heard that it has expanded that into the mid-west, into the Limerick area. It is something we should look to expand countrywide.At the moment, the NCSE can only employ up to 39 therapists. It is recruiting 39 therapists but it needs to recruit more and it needs to put more resources into that model. Based on the pilot programme, it stated that the therapists worked so well there was less need for community-based therapy, where it was available, that the students were doing much better in school and that staff were also learning from the therapists and were able to help their students. It is the model we need to follow.

We still have a situation where some schools are being built and others are being granted extensions with no provision for special classes, which is another issue that needs to be addressed. Some schools are reluctant to have a special classes on site and are using every excuse in the book. On the other hand, it is positive that more and more schools are reaching out to the NCSE to say they want a special class in the school. I know a number are anxious to know if they will be sanctioned for this year so they can begin their preparations. While that is welcome, every school should be willing to step up and provide the extra support where needed.

A special school has been sanctioned for Monaghan and is due to open in late August or September. However, there is only capacity for 18 students on the current site. The site is inappropriate on a number of levels, as I mentioned previously to the Minister of State. With the utmost urgency, so as not to delay the progress of the school, we need to look for a much more suitable site.