Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. My Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs.  Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school.  SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. 

It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. 

In relation to SNA support the NCSE have confirmed that the school has an allocation of SNA support to provide support for children with primary care needs.

The following arrangements for the allocation of SNA support in respect of students in mainstream classes for 2022/23 will apply:

a) The SNA allocations for mainstream classes in schools on 31st May 2022 will be maintained for 2022/23. This will provide greater certainty for schools.

b) A process for schools, whereby if they consider their SNA allocation is in excess of the required care needs, to engage with the NCSE. Schools should contact their local NCSE Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) to commence the process.

c) The exceptional review process undertaken by NCSE will remain in place throughout the 2022/23 school year, where schools can seek a review of their SNA allocations which will result in one of the following outcomes:

i. No change in the level of care need identified (and no change in the resultant SNA allocation);

ii. Increase in the level of care need identified (which if significant would see an increase in the SNA allocations to the schools) ;

iii. Decrease in level of care need identified in the school (which if significant would result in a reduction in SNA allocations as the care need could be managed with less resources than are currently allocated); In relation to outcome iii, the SNA allocation will be adjusted at the end of the relevant school term.

It is expected that schools will review and reprioritise the deployment of SNAs within mainstream settings and allocate resources to ensure those with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support. Providing access to SNA support continues to be based on primary care needs as outlined in DES Circular 0030/2014 circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/education/2014/30.pdf. Following such a review and reprioritisation, it is expected that a small number of schools, e.g. developing schools, may not have a sufficient SNA allocation to meet the needs of their students. These schools can apply to the NCSE for an Exceptional Review of their allocation.

Detailed information on the NCSE Exceptional Review process is published on the NCSE website. ncse.ie/application-for-sna-exceptional-review.

The NCSE will endeavour to respond to all applications for Exceptional Review received as expediently as possible and in that regard, it will prioritise applications from schools with no current SNA allocation and developing schools. The Exceptional Review process for mainstream allocations will be available to schools throughout the 2022/23 school year.

The NCSE has developed an appeal mechanism for schools who are not satisfied with the outcome of the Exceptional Review. Local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) will provide information and clarification to schools on the outcome where requested. Where schools wish to appeal the outcome of the review, they must do so using the prescribed form provided by the NCSE ncse.ie/ncse-appeals-process

The NCSE have published the SNA allocations for the 2022/23 school year and they are available at ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations

All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, and the SENO is available to offer assistance and advice to the school. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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135. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her Department’s action plan to support children with speech and language communication needs in the classroom; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31148/22]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of special speech specific speech and language disorder classes available and the locations of same in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [31149/22]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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140. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the provisions that are in place for children exiting language classes and transitioning back into their mainstream school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31172/22]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the provisions that are in place in secondary schools to support young adults with developmental language disorder, developmental verbal dyspraxia or any other specified speech and language communication need; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31173/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136, 140 and 141 together.

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government.

This year, the Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing a wide range of schemes and supports for children with special educational needs. This includes additional teaching and care supports.

As a result, the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.

Primary and post-primary schools make provision for pupils’ special educational needs (SEN) through a continuum of interventions ranging from additional support teaching in mainstream schools to placement in a special class or, in some cases, enrolment in a special school. Schools are provided with the resources, through the special education teacher allocation model, to assist them in meeting the needs of their students, including those with language difficulties. Schools are required to target their additional resources at those students requiring the greatest level of support.

Specialist provision for children with SSLD is available at primary level. This is based on the principle of early intervention. There are sixty-three special classes for pupils with SSLD attached to mainstream primary schools in dispersed geographical locations. These classes cater for pupils with a very specific set of language needs by enrolling them for a maximum of two years. The classes are designed to provide a time-limited, targeted intervention for children with severe impairments in their skills of understanding and expressing themselves through spoken language. The special classes focus on a relatively narrow cohort of pupils whose language difficulty is not otherwise attributable to co-morbid factors such as general learning disability, deafness or behavioural challenges. Pupils who attend special classes for children with SSLD return to mainstream provision following the two year intervention and they can avail of further support from the school’s special education teacher.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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137. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the reduction of July provision hours allocated to children (details supplied) who have complex needs; and the reason hours are reduced due to the children attending the same school. [31150/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this month, the Government announced the Summer Programme to allow all primary and post-primary schools to offer a summer programme for students with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage.

The total funding available to provide summer programmes this year is up to €40 million.

The programme was developed following extensive engagement with education stakeholders, parent and disability advocacy groups.

A key objective of this year’s scheme is to increase the number of schools offering the summer programme to their students. Steps have been taken to afford schools as much flexibility as possible, and to ease administrative requirements to support schools run a summer programme. It is accepted that a school-based programme provides a more holistic experience for the students and helps retain the important connection with school and peers.

It is acknowledged that not all schools will be in a position to provide a school-based programme, so a home-based programme continues to be available for students with complex needs where the school-based programme is unavailable.

Under the home-based summer programme the allocation is 10 hours per week for 4 weeks where a student’s school is not participating in a school-based programme. The allocation is done on a per household basis with adjusted allocations for siblings. 

Allocations of time for siblings broadly reflect how children may be grouped if they were in the same class at school. This is where one teacher is allocated to a class of six students with complex needs in schools.

However to meet the specific needs of different siblings with special needs in the home, an increased shared allocation is provided for siblings as set out in the table below:

The scheme is responsive as it allows for circumstances where additional hours can be provided, as outlined below, when children have differing levels of need, school setting or residence .

Separate allocations of 10 hours per week will be provided to a child where that child is:

- Attending school at a different educational level to their sibling – (i.e. one child is primary and the other is post-primary)

- One child is in a specialised setting (i.e. one child in a special class or a special school and the other child in mainstream)

- Where two eligible children are each in a specialised setting (i.e. a special class or a special school)

- Or where one sibling is living in a separate home. 

The siblings referred to by the Deputy do not meet the criteria as set out above for a separate allocation. However, if there is further supporting information in relation to any of the above criteria please provide this information to the Department for consideration at: homebasedsummerprogram@education.gov.ie.