Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress being made on the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7862/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The recommendations of the task force on autism provide an invaluable basis for the development of educational services and supports for persons with autism. However, in responding to the recommendations, my Department has had to give priority to a number of key areas before detailed individual recommendations can be addressed. The key areas involve the implementation of the core legislative and structural measures required to underpin service development and delivery.

This approach is critical to the implementation of many of the individual recommendations of the task force including those relating to assessment, parental involvement, service delivery, information dissemination, promotion of inclusion and co-ordination between health and education authorities. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 has been enacted, while on the structural front, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has been established on a statutory basis. These developments represent significant progress and I am confident they will have a positive impact on services for children with special educational needs, including those with autism.

The issue of the ongoing implementation of the recommendations of the task force continues to receive detailed consideration within my Department. However, my Department has already acted on many of the recommendations of the task force and is continuing to develop the network of special educational provision for children with autism. The extent of progress can be measured with reference to the fact that, since 1998, when autism was first recognised as a distinct special educational need, a number of dedicated facilities have been developed.

In the course of development, 141 special classes for children with autism attached to special schools and mainstream schools have been created; ten pre-school classes for children with autism established; eight autism facilities, some of which are providing an applied behavioural analysis model of response to children with autism are being funded and five special classes for children with Asperger's syndrome have been created. My Department sanctions home tuition grants for children with autism for whom a home based applied behavioural analysis programme is considered appropriate or in cases where such children are awaiting an appropriate school placement.

In addition to the above, the task force on autism put forward a range of important recommendations in the area of continuing professional development. My Department continues to address these recommendations on a phased basis through existing supports, newly established structures and specific interventions. Developments worthy of note include the establishment of the special education support service in September 2003, the provision by the Department on an annual basis for 140 places on a postgraduate diploma programme in special educational needs and 20 places on a postgraduate programme in autism. The Department also funded the development of an applied behaviour analysis training programme in Trinity College, Dublin, and funded the participation of 12 teachers on the course in 2003-04. The successful participants are now available to the Department as classroom teachers and a further training resource.

The role of the special education support service is to manage, co-ordinate and develop a range of supports in response to identified training needs. The service is hosted in Laois Education Centre and is funded by my Department. As part of its response to the growing demand from teachers for support and training, the special education support service has established teams of trainers to deliver training in post-primary level. Training is delivered locally across the State through the education centre network. In addition, the service provides immediate responses to requests from schools for support in a variety of autism-related areas.

The service also funds the provision of on-line training courses, including a course on autism, during the summer months of July and August and during the autumn and spring terms. The service funds approved approaches to the teaching of children with autism such as picture exchange communication system, known as PECCS, and treatment and education of autistic and related communication handicapped children, known as TEACCH, and the Hanen approach.

Another major landmark in the development of autism specific services was the launch last September of the Middletown Centre for Autism in County Armagh. This marked the successful completion of the purchase of the former St. Joseph's Adolescent Centre, Middletown, on behalf of the Department of Education in the North and the Department of Education and Science in the South. Both Departments plan to refurbish the property to meet the needs of a centre of excellence for children and young people with autism throughout the island of Ireland.

The centre will be dedicated to improving and enriching the educational opportunities of children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders. I am satisfied that the steps taken in recent years and those in hand represent significant progress in the development of services for children with autism. However, I fully recognise that further progress is required and my Department in consultation with parents and existing service providers will seek to ensure the recent rate of development is maintained.