Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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603. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of AIM applications made in each county since 2015, by AIM level and year in tabular form. [21548/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to enable children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. It was introduced in June 2016 and is administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. AIM is a child-centred model, involving 7 levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting they are attending.

AIM Level 1 includes the new higher education programme in Leadership for Inclusion in the Early Years (LINC), established in 2016 with the first intake of students graduating in October 2017. Pre-school settings employing an Inclusion Coordinator (who has graduated from LINC and has agreed to take on the role of Inclusion Coordinator (INCO) in the pre-school setting) can apply for an increase of €2 per child per week in the rate of ECCE capitation payable to that setting. Applications for this increased rate of ECCE capitation were accepted from 2017. 

AIM Level 2 provides information for parents and pre-school providers. A dedicated website has been launched under this level - www.aim.gov.ie - and an AIM Communications Strategy is also being developed.

AIM Level 3, in recognising the requirement to continue to develop a qualified workforce that can confidently meet the needs of all children wishing to participate in the ECCE programme, provides for a multi-annual training programme for pre-school practitioners.

AIM Level 4 provides access to mentoring for pre-school practitioners from a team of dedicated AIM Early Years Specialists.

AIM Level 5 provides for access to specialised equipment, appliances, assistive technology and/or minor alterations capital grants for early years’ settings to ensure children with a disability can participate in the ECCE programme.

AIM Level 6 provides access to HSE therapeutic services where they are critical to enable the child to be enrolled and to meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme.

AIM Level 7 provides additional assistance in the pre-school room where this is critical to ensuring a child’s participation in the ECCE programme. In line with emerging best practice to support the integration and independence of children with a disability, AIM does not fund Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). Rather, it provides financial support to the pre-school provider, which can be used either to reduce the adult to child ratio in the pre-school room or to buy in additional assistance to the pre-school room. Accordingly, Level 7 assistance is a shared resource for the pre-school setting.

Pobal has provided the following information regarding the number of AIM applications for Levels 1, 4, 5 and 7 received by county since 2016. As the 2018-19 programme year is not yet complete, the number of applications in relation to 2018-19 may rise further during the final weeks of the programme year.

table contd.