asked the Minister for Education if she will comment on the report "Special Education Provision for the Mentally Handicapped" prepared for the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland; and the action she proposes to take.
Written Answers. - Education for Mentally Handicapped.
323.
I was very pleased to accept the report from the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland on 20 February 1984. It is a very comprehensive and useful document in that it summarises existing policies in relation to the education of mentally handicapped children and suggests some lines of development. The Programme for Action in Education 1984-87 sets out the Government priorities over the next four years. Reference is made in the programme to a considerable number of the issues raised in the NAMHI report.
Chapter four (Special Education) of the Programme for Action outlines the Government's intentions regarding the development of education services for the mentally handicapped for the four-year period 1984-87.
The Report on the Education and Training of Severely and Profoundly Mentally Handicapped Children was published at the beginning of April. As outlined in the Programme for Action, I propose during the period of the plan to appoint and train a cadre of teachers each year, starting in 1985, to cater for these children.
Special schools will be encouraged to become resource centres for the teachers and pupils in special classes throughout their area. The educational provision in special classes will be closely monitored to achieve the maximum possible benefit by way of integration.
Work is continuing on the completion of the special curriculum which is being prepared for moderately handicapped children.
My Department have made a commitment to a general policy of giving priority to the handicapped. A practical expression of this commitment is the arrangement under which pupils in special classes now attract the enhanced level of capitation grant that obtained for similar pupils in special schools. This arrangement is operative from the current school year.