Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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140. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps her Department is taking to help families with the early intervention for children with autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13450/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The policy of my Department is that children with special educational needs, including children with autism, should be included where possible and appropriate in mainstream placements with additional supports provided. In circumstances where children with special educational need require more specialised interventions, special school or special class places are also available.

Home tuition is provided to children with autism aged between 2.5 and 3 years of age as they cannot enrol in a school until they reach the age of three.

Parents can choose to enrol children with autism in an early intervention class from the age of three and where such a placement is not available home tuition is approved. Children with autism over the age of four may also be eligible for home tuition if a school placement is not available for them.

The annual circular for the 2014/2015 Home Tuition Scheme (048/2014) is available on www.education.ie and provides detailed information on the purpose of the scheme including the eligibility criteria. Home tuition is intended as an interim provision only for children with a special educational need for whom a school placement is not available and is not intended to be regarded as an optional alternative to school.

All State-funded primary and post primary schools have been allocated additional resources to provide for children with special educational needs enrolled in school.

For children for whom mainstream provision may not be appropriate, my Department has provided placement options, in 2014/15, in some 125 special schools which have approximately 1,000 teachers and approximately 860 special classes located around the country, 95 of which are early intervention classes for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Primary and Post Primary schools have a permanent allocation of additional teaching supports to provide for children whose educational psychological assessment places them in the high incidence, or less complex, disability category.

Separately, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocates Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) for children with additional care needs, as outlined in Circular 00030/2014 and additional resource teaching hours to schools for children who have been assessed within the low incidence, or more complex, category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department.

The Deputy may also be aware that the National Council Special Education (NCSE) is currently at an advanced stage in the preparation of policy advice on the education of children with autism which includes a review of early intervention provision.

I expect that the NCSE final report will reflect the broadest possible range of views, both National and International and will provide recommendations which will assist the development of policy for future years.