I assume the Deputy is referring to the major new initiative for the integrated education of special needs pupils launched in November 1998. This initiative provided the first ever automatic support 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 of the initiative include: 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.
