Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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559. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to address issues concerning the interpretation of the term “SSD of unknown origin” by SLT’s in the HSE to exclude children with disabilities from accessing developmental language disorder or speech sound disorder special classes (details supplied). [62128/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Education and Youth continues to support the needs of children and young people in the school system through the provision of additional resources to schools to the point where there are approximately 40,000 teachers and SNAs working to meet the educational and care needs of children and young people in schools. It is also important to note that the provision of speech and language therapy services to individual children and young people is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive.

There are, however, sixty-four special classes for pupils with significant speech issues attached to mainstream primary schools in dispersed geographical locations. These classes, which were categorised as Specific Speech and Language Disorder (SSLD) special classes cater for pupils with a very specific set of language needs for a maximum of two years. The enrolment criteria for these classes originate from the recommendations of the Special Education Review Committee Report (SERC) (1993). As envisaged by SERC, the classes were 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 Inspectorate division of the Department published a composite report on the quality of provision for children attending these classes in 2021. While, overall, the Inspectorate reported positively on this provision, significant issues were noted.

These included:

• Enrolment criteria for entry to the special SSLD classes do not align neatly with the current diagnostic definition (developmental language disorder DLD) which has been used by speech and language therapists in Ireland and internationally since 2017.
• Some schools indicated that there were difficulties caused by the divergence between the DLD diagnostic criteria and the narrower SSLD definitions, as well as the requirement for psychological assessments to establish children’s intellectual ability.
• The Inspectorate report also noted the urgent need to address the disparity in definition between the DLD diagnostic and original SSLD enrolment criteria to ensure that the pupils most in need of this specialised support were prioritised for enrolment.

The updates to circular 0038/2007, were informed by engagement with the Speech and Language Therapy service in the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) and HSE Speech and Language Therapists. As advised by these specialist services, the revised entry criteria for these classes are intended to ensure that the children with the greatest level of difficulty can access the classes.

Guidelines, a decision-making matrix and additional support from the NCSE have been provided to schools to assist them in ensuring that the children with the greatest level of need are facilitated to enrol in the classes.

Department officials also engaged with education stakeholders, including representatives of schools that provide these classes, to consult on the terms of the circular. The feedback from the stakeholders has been incorporated into the revised circular. The circular will be subject to review and this will involve the full range of education and health stakeholders.

My officials recently met with IASLT and experts in the NCSE in relation to the issues outlined in the attached correspondence. IASLT and the NCSE are satisfied that the revised enrolment criteria will result in the children with the greatest level of need getting access to this educational support.

In relation to the demand for additional classes I wish to advise that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for children with special educational needs.

In order to support the NCSE and forward planning my department published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of measures introduced to support forward planning and reiterates the need for families to inform the NCSE that they are seeking a special educational placement for their child. An earlier date of 1 October was set for parents to do so. This earlier date will allow for earlier sanctioning of classes for the 2026/27 school year.

This notification process will provide the NCSE with valuable information as to which children will continue to require a special class as they progress to post-primary level and details on students who require a place for the first time.

Budget 2026 has provided funding for 3,000 new special educational places within our education system and extensive research was completed over the summer to identify schools with available accommodation in which new classes can be established. The NCSE is now matching these schools with known local demand based on the parent's notify process.

The NCSE is currently collating the data and information received by 1 October through the parents notify process and are engaging with schools regarding where specialist provision is best placed for the 2026/27 school year. It is envisioned that the majority of these special classes will be sanctioned by 31 December 2025.

Where new special classes are sanctioned by the NCSE, it is envisaged that those schools would open for admissions in the new year.