Seanad debates

Thursday, 19 February 2015

Commencement Matters

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

10:30 am

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to the House.

Photo of Fidelma Healy EamesFidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am delighted it is the Minister who is here. She is the person I need.

My motion concerns the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to recognise that it makes good, sound educational, financial and domestic or family sense to provide resource support hours for children with Down's syndrome who also have a mild learning difficulty classification, and I hope my argument today will prove to her it is time that we changed this policy tout de suite.

From my experience in this area of listening to families as an educator, I make the case that these children's rights are seriously infringed. We are talking about only 200 children in the primary sector who have a mild learning difficulty classification and also have Down's syndrome as a recognised syndrome and disability. It is estimated that there are approximately 25 to 30 such children per year. I am familiar with quite a number of cases in Galway. Indeed, the Minister probably read Brendan O'Connor's article about his daughter in the Sunday Independenton Sunday last.

It has been estimated that this measure would cost the Exchequer approximately €1 million to resource, which, in the whole scheme of things - considering the amount of time involved, the possibility of preventing these children from regressing from mild to moderate learning disability, the investment in their futures and the alleviation of worry for their families - is a very good investment.

I was really struck - I apologise for being personal here - that the Taoiseach hired a liaison person for €50,000 to improve his personal profile in Mayo, for power, I suppose. My thought was that 20 times that amount would give power to these children to participate more fully in society. We need to look at it again.

Let me give the Minister a specific example. Children with mild learning difficulties come in with an IQ of 55 to 70. Such a child would traditionally have been called a slow learner, with lower intellectual capacity and processing. A child I know with a mild learning disability, who also has Down's syndrome, has a significant speech disorder and cannot string sentences together, and has low muscle tone, which makes sitting and attending to tasks difficult, especially those requiring fine motor skills, such as writing. She has sight problems. Indeed, this is typical of Down's syndrome children - more than 50% have sight problems. Glasses, of themselves, do not correct it. They must have a little board right beside them to accommodate their eyesight. Hearing issues are intermittent for some - in other words, their hearing comes and goes. This child I am talking about also suffers from sleep apnoea and is very tired because her oxygen levels are dropping at night. I worked as a primary school teacher for a while in the United States and we were testing out inclusion at the time. I was a mainstream teacher but children were being brought into my class to try out inclusion. This is now 20 years ago. Some of those children had Down's syndrome, and I noticed their tiredness. I noticed that sometimes they needed to be lifted. I noticed that it was difficult for them to keep up. It is an abomination to say that these children are the same as any other child with a mild learning difficulty.

Let me give the Minister another example. This little girl I have just described began to feel stress emotionally at school because she was not learning. Then she was in Crumlin hospital for some of the problems I have described. While she was there, she saw another child with Down's syndrome walk by, and she said: "Oh look. She is like me."This is a five year old child. The stress became so great when she was not keeping up with her peers that she got alopecia and her hair began to fall out. The parents then begged for a second diagnosis - a psychological assessment - because she began to have behavioural and emotional problems, despite having only a mild learning disability with Down's syndrome. When she got the resource hours, guess what? She is transformed. She is now happy, despite only getting three hours extra a week.

There are a myriad of issues with children with mild learning difficulty and Down's syndrome. The child with mild learning difficulty has an awareness. What I have described to the Minister about the child who feels she cannot keep up is the mild child, not the moderate child. The mild category, plus the range of issues that come with Down's syndrome, makes for a very special case. The ombudsman has ruled that the lack of resources in this area is having a negative impact on the experience of such children. However, the NCSE is now coming out and saying that, with the new proposed model, a psychological assessment is not needed at all and that the child's needs will be met. They are not being met. I ask the Minister to change the policy from September 2015.

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Healy Eames for raising this matter. I met earlier this morning with a group of parents from Down Syndrome Ireland on this issue. It is something I am conscious of and I know the Senator has described some of the issues well.

Under the existing system, all pupils with Down syndrome, including those in the mild range, are entitled to receive additional teaching support through the GAM, or general allocation model, or from an allocation of additional resource teaching hours allocated by the NCSE. It should be noted that whether resource teaching hours are allocated to schools under the GAM or through an allocation made by the NCSE based on an individual assessment of low-incidence special needs, it is a matter for schools to utilise and manage those resources to best provide for the teaching needs of qualifying children.

Each school will use its professional judgment to decide how the provision of additional resource teaching time and hours is made to qualifying pupils in the school to ensure that all their individual needs are met. Schools have discretion as to how they allocate their general hours to pupils. Whereas schools will have regard to the number of pupils who require additional teaching support, they are not constrained as to the number of hours they may allocate to a pupil who may have Down's syndrome and a mild learning disability. Schools may also increase the amount of additional teaching time they provide to pupils by using a combination of individualised teaching time with pair and group work.

The NCSE was asked to provide policy advice on the issue of whether Down's syndrome should be reclassified as a low-incidence disability in all instances, regardless of assessed cognitive ability. In its policy advice, the NCSE stated that it could not establish an evidence base to support a recommendation that a child with Down's syndrome should be allocated supports over and above other children with mild learning disabilities or children with other syndromes that also have associated co-occurring conditions. However, the NCSE also recommended that, under the new resource allocation model, children should be allocated additional resources in line with their level of need, rather than by disability category, which is the new model proposed.

The Senator is aware that I intend to retain the current model for the coming school year in order to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for further consultation but also in regard to the issues around complex needs, on which we do not yet have full information. I am aware that some parents and organisations representing children with Down's syndrome continue to have concerns that the existing system does not give them certainty as to the number of resource teaching hours that may be allocated to their child under the general allocation model, as these hours are distributed locally by schools. As I said, I met a group in Leinster House this morning. I intend to meet with more parents over the coming week and will certainly be listening to colleagues in the Oireachtas as well. I will consider the issues they have raised and keep the Senator informed of my developing views on this matter.

Photo of Fidelma Healy EamesFidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The little bit of hope I have is that it is the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who is in the chair. I mean that sincerely. I think she is very reasonable and practical, and she is listening. However, for the NCSE to say there is not enough evidence to reclassify children who have a mild learning difficulty and Down's syndrome as needing extra resource hours leaves an unbelievable amount to be desired. The NCSE needs to start observing and doing case studies. This does not make sense. Schools are not clamouring to take these children. Why? It is because they know they have extra needs. The NCSE needs to go in to see why schools are not clamouring for them. I know there is the general allocation model, but that is just learning support, which is not adequate. These kids have needs over and above that.

I ask the Minister to continue the consultation and to ask the NCSE to go into schools in an observational role. Let us sort this out before the summer. Two years ago we thought we were getting somewhere, but we did not get anywhere with the last Minister. I have more hope on the basis that it is Deputy O'Sullivan who is Minister. I believe these children's rights are being infringed and that Down Syndrome Ireland should consider bringing a case on this. I would be delighted if the Minister had any comment to make.

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will be meeting more parents next week. In fairness to the NCSE, it worked on and devised a new model, which is under consideration. Unfortunately, we do not have enough consultation and information, specifically around the complex needs area-----

Photo of Fidelma Healy EamesFidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Just make an exception for these children.

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----to implement it next September. That does not mean it will not be implemented. A lot of work has gone into it and I know Down Syndrome Ireland is positively disposed towards what is proposed in the new model. As I said, I am looking at the issue currently and I will keep the Senator informed.

Photo of Fidelma Healy EamesFidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. They are worth making an exception for.