Vol. 482 No. 3
424 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Education and Science the funding, if any, which was provided for education and training for autistic children and people in County Limerick for each of the years from 1995 to date in 1997. [18195/97]
Children with autism have access to a range of educational support services. The precise nature of the support provided will depend on the severity of the condition in each individual case.
In some cases, children with mild features of autism are educated in ordinary schools with the support, where necessary, of remedial or resource teachers. Children with more serious needs have traditionally been catered for in a number of special schools, including schools catering for children with mental handicap and schools for children with emotional-behavioural disorders.
The following special educational supports are provided at present in County Limerick: one special school for children with mild mental handicap; one special school for children with moderate mental handicap; four special classes for children with severe/profound mental handicap; six special classes for children with mild mental handicap in mainstream national schools; one special class for children with emotional disturbance in a mainstream school; 67 remedial teachers providing a service to 122 national schools, and two resource teachers providing a service to seven national schools.
Because of the range of special needs, including autism, which are provided for under the above services, I am not in a position to indicate to the Deputy the proportion of overall funding provided for autistic children in County Limerick.
I have already indicated to the House that my Department is now commencing a review of the operation of a pilot programme of special education services for children with autism which was first introduced in Dublin and Ennis for the 199596 school year. My Department will be consulting with the Irish Society for Autism as part of this process. The review, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, will provide a basis for the development of future responses to the educational needs of children with autism.
