Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 1135: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason for the long waiting list for children with autism in County Meath seeking an autism specific education place such as at CABAS at Drogheda and Stepping Stones at Kilcloon; and her plans to provide additional places to alleviate waiting lists in cases in which three-year old children are advised that they are No. 40 on the list and have no hope of obtaining a school place. [24862/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is currently funding 11 autism specific facilities, including CABAS Drogheda and Stepping Stones at Kilcloon. Some of these facilities provide an applied behavioural analysis model of response which involves the provision of tuition on a one-to-one basis for children on the autistic spectrum.

In addition to the autism specific facilities outlined above, the Department also provides the following dedicated facilities for the education of children with autism: 153 special classes for children with autism have been created attached to special schools and mainstream schools; 15 pre-school classes for children with autism have been established; five special classes for children with Asperger's syndrome have been created. Furthermore, 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 Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education is now operational. A specific function of the NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, will be to identify appropriate educational placements for all children with special educational needs, including children with autism.

I am confident that the steps that I have outlined above, and especially the establishment of the NCSE, will ensure that an appropriate educational provision can be put in place for all children with special needs, including children with autism.