Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the proposal to bring specialised therapists into schools and pre-schools will also provide services for applied behaviour analysis. [29225/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I recently announced that a demonstration project to provide in-school and pre-school therapy services will be introduced for the 2018/19 school year.

The project will be managed and coordinated by the National Council for Special Education.

The model has been developed by the Departments of Education, Children and Youth Affairs, Health, and the Health Service Executive, and is part of the government’s overall aim to help every child to fulfil their full potential.  

75 schools, including a representative sample of primary, post primary, and special schools will take part in the project. 75 pre-schools will also participate.

The project is taking place in the Community Healthcare Organisation 7 Region of South West Dublin, Kildare and West Wicklow.

As part of the programme, 19 speech and language therapists and 12 Occupational Therapists will be recruited by the HSE to work with the 150 schools and pre-schools.

The purpose of the project is to test a model of tailored therapeutic supports that allows for early intervention in terms of providing speech and language and occupational therapy within ‘educational settings’.  This innovative pilot will complement existing HSE funded provision of essential therapy services. 

The pilot is designed to test the provision of speech and language and occupational therapies in schools settings. It therefore does not include Applied Behaviour Analysis. 

The Special Education Support Service (SESS) which is now part of the NCSE support service, provides training for teachers and schools in a range of programmes, including Applied Behaviour Analysis.