Vol. 435 No. 3
130 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education the number of children with a disability who are presently integrated into ordinary national schools; the way in which this has increased over the past five years; the projections for the next five years; and if she will classify the type of disability if such information is available.
My Department does not keep a record of the number of children with disabilities who are attending ordinary national schools. However, a survey conducted in 1992 on behalf of the Special Education Review Committee estimated that the prevalence of certain specific disabilities in ordinary classes in national schools was as follows:
|
Disability |
Estimated Number |
|
Physical Disability |
842 |
|
Hearing Impairment |
527 |
|
Visual Impairment |
301 |
|
Emotional Disturbance |
989 |
|
Behavioural Problem |
2,091 |
|
Moderate Mental Handicap |
101 |
|
Mild Mental Handicap |
699 |
|
Borderline Mental Handicap |
1,012 |
|
Specific Learning Disability |
1,744 |
|
Specific Speech and Language Disorder |
1,087 |
|
Other |
264 |
131 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education the number of schools and pupils on Dublin's northside which have access to a resource teacher in order to assist the integration of children with a disability into the primary schools.
The role of the resource teacher is to act in support of ordinary teaching staff in dealing with handicapped children attending ordinary classes.
The resource teacher model is a recent innovation and is used, in particular circumstances, as an alternative to the visiting teacher service which is also targeted on supporting handicapped children in ordinary schools.
Decisions regarding the nature of support service provided in individual situations are driven by the numbers of children involved and the nature of their particular disabilities.
A total of seven resource teachers are currently in place and decisions regarding further such appointments will be made shortly. To date, no resource teacher has been put in place in the northside of Dublin.
There is a total of 38 teachers in the visiting teacher service and seven of these service the northside of Dublin.
