Vol. 441 No. 5
85 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education whether the concept of designated schools proposed for dealing with children with various special needs who would be integrated into the national school system has the capacity to deal with the varied needs that children will present; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
The rationale behind the concept of designated ordinary schools, proposed by the Special Education Review Committee, is that a greater range and intensity of support services can be provided for children with special educational needs attending ordinary schools where those services are concentrated in selected schools at local level. The concept is particularly relevant where the numbers of such children would be relatively small and-or scattered over a wide geographical area.
I consider that designated schools would allow support services to be allocated in a focused manner while facilitating, to a considerable extent, the wishes of many parents that their special needs children should remain in local ordinary schools. The alternative, of attempting to address individual special needs as and where they occur, would be inefficient and ineffective by comparison.
