Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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384. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in receipt of pre-school home tuition based on special educational needs; the number of households receiving home tuition in which there is more than one child in receipt of the home tuition; the number of these who are under and over three years of age, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55163/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme is to provide a compensatory educational service for:

(a) Early educational intervention for children with autism who meet the schemes eligibility criteria

(b) Students with special educational needs seeking an educational placement in a recognised school

(c) Students, enrolled in schools, with significant medical conditions which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school

The preferred approach is that children are educated in school settings where children may have access to fully qualified teachers, individualised education programmes, special needs assistants, school curriculum with the option, where possible and appropriate, of full or partial integration and interaction with other students.

Accordingly, Home Tuition is provided as an interim measure only for children for whom a placement in a recognised school is not available and should notbe regarded as an optional alternative to a school placement.

In relation to the early intervention strand of the scheme, the Home Tuition Grant is provided for children aged between 2.5 and 3 years of age with an ASD diagnosis.

When these children reach the age of 3 they will be eligible to enrol in a state supported early intervention or preschool setting. Home Tuition is provided for children with ASD over 3 years of age (who will not reach the age of 6 during the 2017/18 school year), who meet the schemes eligibility criteria, and for whom an early intervention placement is not available, as confirmed by the NCSE.

Children with Special Educational Needs, including those with ASD, who are over the age of four may avail of Home tuition where a school placement is not available as confirmed by the NCSE, through the local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO).

Home Tuition Grant allocations to siblings will be reflective of the school grouping principle i.e. where the pupil teacher ratio in school settings can result in one teacher being allocated to a class of six students with children of mixed age and ability at the appropriate educational level (i.e. primary or post primary).  However, in recognition that siblings may have differentiated needs, my Department allocates additional hours to siblings on initial application without the requirement for supporting documentation. Applications for separate allocations for siblings are considered on a case by case basis.

Home Tuition Grant applications are received on an ongoing basis throughout the school year.  For the 2017/18 school year to date, my Department is providing home tuition grants for 110 children with special educational needs aged 2.5 to 3 years, 484 aged 3 - 5 years of age and 38 children aged 6 years and over.

This includes 12 households that have more than one child with special educational needs in receipt of the Home Tuition grant. Of these 24 children, 2 are aged under 3 years, 16 are aged 3-6 years and 6 are over 6 years of age.