Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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252. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide children with Down's syndrome with early intervention facilities and accompanying home tuition, similar to the schemes available to children with ASD and autistic children [6181/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following:

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

It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my Department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

For 2023, the spend by my Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education.

This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023.

This includes additional teaching and care supports. It also includes funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) for an additional 54 psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes.

In 2023 the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 special needs assistants in our schools next year.

For the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 Special needs assistants. Together we have almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

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

The State supports early intervention for children with special educational needs through providing funding to a number of crèche/early years settings including:

- Early Intervention classes in mainstream and special schools

- Early Intervention settings in HSE funded service providers

- Early years settings supported by the Early Childhood Care & Education Scheme (ECCE) and the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM)

- Early years settings supported by HSE grant aid or HSE funded Pre-School Assistant and

- A Home Tuition Grant Scheme for children aged between 3 and 4 years of age with a diagnosis of autism where a placement in an Early Intervention setting is not available.

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme provides up to two years of pre-school within the eligible age range, without charge. The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), introduced in 2016, enables the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities/additional needs, including children with Down Syndrome, in the ECCE Programme.

The goal of AIM is to create a more inclusive environment in pre-schools, so all children, regardless of ability, can benefit from quality early learning and care.

AIM is based on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting. It does not require any diagnosis, recognising that many children do not have a diagnosis of a disability/additional need when starting pre-school.

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme is under the remit of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth providing universal pre-school of up to two years for all children.

AIM involves 7 levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child and the pre-school setting. Universal supports are designed to create a more inclusive culture in early learning and care settings, through training courses and qualifications for staff. Where universal supports are not enough to meet the needs of an individual child, targeted supports are available to ensure the child can meaningfully participate in pre-school.

More than 4,000 children with disabilities/additional needs receive targeted AIM supports every year to enable them to participate in mainstream pre-school, and many other children are benefitting from universal AIM supports.

The Home Tuition Grant Scheme provides funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme also provides funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children with special educational needs seeking an educational placement. Eligibility for children seeking an educational placement is determined in consultation with the local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO).

Under the Early Intervention strand of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme, the children that are catered for are between 3 and 4 years of age with an ASD diagnosis and for whom an early intervention placement is not currently available, as confirmed by the NCSE.

The Home Tuition Grant Scheme is an interim measure to provide for education until an educational placement becomes available. When an Early Intervention placement becomes available the home tuition grant will be discontinued.

I accept that there is a need for my Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to review existing provision and consider how children with special educational needs in the early years sector can best be supported.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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254. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a decision has been made regarding SNA allocations for September 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6189/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following:

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

For 2023, the spend by my Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education.

This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023.

This includes additional teaching and care supports. It also includes funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) for an additional 54 psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes.

In 2023 the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 special needs assistants in our schools next year.

For the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 Special needs assistants. Together we have almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews.

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.

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.

The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations and the school should liaise with the NCSE directly in the event that additional supports are required.