Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 398: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extra provision she has made since the beginning of the 2007-08 school year to meet the requirements of children with autism or Asperger's syndrome; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28743/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware of my commitment to ensuring that all children, including those with autism or Asperger's syndrome, receive an education appropriate to their needs. As the Deputy is aware, the National Council for Special Education is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers, for the establishment of special classes for autism and for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants to schools to support children with special needs.

During the 2006/2007 school year 75 autism specific classes were sanctioned by NCSE to cater for pupils with autism bringing the total now sanctioned to over 270. My Department, conscious of the need to provide professional development for teachers of autistic children, permitted schools which were scheduled to open autism specific classes in September 2007 to recruit teachers two months early so that they could be trained in autism-specific teaching interventions and behavioural interventions.

The NCSE will continue to establish additional autism classes where the need arises in both special schools and mainstream primary and post-primary schools. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.