Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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187. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when an assessment of needs for a special needs assistant will be carried out on a person (details supplied). [50129/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising, and access to individual pupil casework via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments. (SCPA).

In common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution focused consultative approach to maximise positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Only in the event of a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, will the psychologist become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment.

This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.

I have made enquiries in relation to the pupil referred to by the Deputy in his question and am informed that an educational psychological assessment was not requested nor warranted in this instance, the issue of concern being essentially a medical one in origin. I understand that the assigned psychologist to the school concerned gave the school authorities a letter in support of an application for a Special Needs Assistant in view of those medical needs in the context of the child’s young age.