Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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409. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure that a child (details supplied) in County Meath receives a special needs assistant. [35763/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support, which is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

Circular 0030/2014 sets out the policy of allocating SNA support for a newly enrolling Junior Infant who has clear and obvious need for such support e.g. a child who has a significant additional care need arising from an intellectual, sensory or physical disability.

For those children where it is not yet clear whether difficulties will manifest in a classroom environment, the Circular states that, in general, it is expected that all primary school pupils having their first school experience will have been enrolled and will have commenced attending school before any application for SNA support will be made. Particularly in relation to possible anticipated behavioural difficulties, it is more appropriate to wait until the child begins school in order to see how they have been able to engage in the classroom.

The Circular explains that provision of SNA support should not be considered as a first response for management of behaviour, and should only be provided where it is clear that behavioural management strategies have not been successful to date and where it is demonstrated how access to such support can assist with ongoing planning and intervention for the child.

A range of guidelines have been provided for schools by my Department in relation to management measures for difficult behaviour which are available on my Department's website www.education.ie.

It is open to schools to contact their local SENO to discuss the SNA allocation process. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available the NCSE website www.ncse.ie.