Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 466: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding dyslexia and resource services for a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary. [27941/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, a new general allocation scheme has been announced under which schools have been provided with learning support-resource teaching, LS-RT hours, based on their enrolment figures, to cater for pupils with high incidence special educational needs such as dyslexia and those with learning support needs. According to my Department's records, the general allocation for the school in question is one full-time permanent teaching post and five part-time hours. The school has combined its part-time hours with hours for individual pupils with low incidence special needs. Consequently, the school has three full-time teaching posts to cater for the special educational needs of its pupils.

The general allocation scheme is designed to ensure that each school has enough resource teaching hours to meet the needs of children with high incidence special needs, such as dyslexia and children with learning support needs. Resource teaching hours for children with low incidence special needs, such as hearing impairment, will continue to be provided on the basis of an individual application for each child.

It is a matter for each school to determine the pupils with high incidence special education and learning support needs that will receive this support. Each school has been allocated enough resource teaching hours to provide its pupils with a level of support appropriate to their needs.

The school can use its professional judgement to decide how these hours are divided between different children in the school to ensure that all their needs are met. Research shows that some children with special needs will respond better with one-to-one tuition. Others, however, do better when taught in small groups. Often it is best for resource teachers to work with children in the classroom rather than taking them away to a separate room as the children then have to catch up work done by the rest of the class in their absence. The point is that the type of response needed depends on the child.

My Department has recently issued a comprehensive circular, Sp Ed 02/05, to all primary schools regarding the organisation of teaching resources for pupils who need additional support in mainstream primary schools. The main purpose of this circular is to provide guidance for schools on the deployment and organisation of the teaching resources that were allocated under the general allocation model. Reference is also made in this circular to the deployment of additional teaching resources that are allocated to schools for the support of individual pupils with low incidence disabilities.