Written Answers. - Special Educational Needs.
Johnny Brady
Question:
227
Mr. J. Brady
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the measures, if any, taken by his Department from July 1997 to date to assist children with disabilities in the education system; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[3621/00]
In the period referred to by the Deputy, this Government has taken a series of important measures to assist children with disabilities in the education system.
In September 1997, the pupil-teacher ratio for a wide range of special needs pupils was reduced by one unit. These improvements have continued and since September last the pupil teacher ratio for all special needs categories has been reduced to the level recommended in the report of the special education review committee.
In November 1998, a major initiative for integrated education for children with special needs was launched. This initiative provided the first ever automatic supports for many children with disabilities. The measures involved are aimed at ensuring that all children with a special educational need, irrespective of their location or disability, will receive the support they require to participate fully in the education system.
The measures extend right across the entire spectrum of special needs and deliver extra teaching and child care services to special needs children, whether in groups or in individual isolated settings.
The key measures in the initiative included the introduction of a formalised system of special teaching support for all children attending school on a fully integrated basis who have been assessed as having special educational needs; and the introduction of a formalised system of child care support for all children with special needs, including those in special schools, special classes and ordinary schools, who have been assessed as requiring such support.
The level of response in each case has regard to the number of children and the severity of the disabilities involved. Where a group of special needs children attend an ordinary school or adjacent schools, the support may take the form of full-time resource or child care posts or both. Where individual or small groups of children are involved, the support may take the form of part-time teaching hours or part-time child care support or both. The level of support has regard to the number of children and their particular assessed needs.
Already, as a result of this development, my Department has allocated an additional 225 resource teachers and 642 special needs assistants to support children with special needs in the primary system.
Other measures by my Department and which will have a significant effect on provision for children with special needs include the enactment of the Education Act, 1998, the provision of a remedial teaching service to all first and second level schools, the establishment of the national educational psychological service, and publication of the White Paper on Early Childhood Education.
I assure the Deputy of my commitment to ensuring each child with special needs will receive the support he or she requires to fully participate in the educational system and reach his or her potential.
