Written answers

Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Early Childhood Care and Education

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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586. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the ECCE scheme in early years settings can be made fully accessible for children with physical disabilities. [11460/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The goal of AIM, which was launched in 2016, is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality early learning and care. It offers tailored, practical supports based on need and does not require a formal diagnosis of disability.

AIM includes 7 levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted. The levels of support include:

- Level 1, which aims to embed an inclusive culture in services, includes the national inclusion policy and guidelines for ECCE, the funding of the LINC training programme in Leadership for Inclusion, the establishment of Inclusion Co-Ordinator roles in ECCE settings, and a small increase in capitation for services with qualified Inclusion Coordinators.

- Level 2 involves provision of information for parents and providers on AIM, through the AIM.gov.ie website and information provided by County/City Childcare Committees.

- Level 3 recognises the requirement to continue to develop a qualified workforce that can confidently meet the needs of all children participating in the ECCE Programme. Supports include funding of training courses such as Hanen, Lámh and Sensory Processing E-Learning (SPEL).

- Level 4 addresses the needs of early years practitioners to have timely access to advice and support from experts in early learning and care (and disability in particular) to assist them meet each child’s needs.

- Level 5 recognises that some children require specialised equipment, appliances, assistive technology and/or that some early learning and care settings may require minor structural alterations to ensure children with a disability can participate in the ECCE programme. Supports include grants for equipment and some capital building works for a service.

- Level 6 provides access to therapeutic supports where they are critical to enable a child be enrolled, and fully participate, in the ECCE programme.

- Level 7: Additional assistance in the pre-school room involves additional capitation for service providers where an application process has demonstrated that supports Level 1-6 have not, or will not, by themselves, meet the child’s needs. Funding can be used by the provider to buy in additional support, or reduce the staff / child ratio, supporting the pre-school leader to ensure the child’s optimal participation.

County/City Childcare Committees (CCC) can provide information on AIM, the application process and local pre-schools that may have capacity for children, including those with physical and intellectual disabilities, to attend. See www.myccc.ie for contact details.

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