Vol. 527 No. 3
391 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Science the geographical spread with regard to the 16 primary schools in County Wicklow which have access to the services of the national educational psychological service; if they are in one area or the service is distributed throughout the county; the length of time it will take for the service to expand throughout the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28505/00]
I understand from the national educational psychological service – NEPS – agency that it currently provides a service for a total of 18 primary schools in County Wicklow, all of which are located in the greater Bray-Greystones area.
The expansion of the NEPS is currently under way in line with a five year plan. The objective is to provide every primary and post-primary school in the country with an educational psychological service by 2004. At present, there are 75 psychologists serving with the NEPS, including 26 new staff appointed since 1 September 2000. As soon as the newly appointed psychologists have completed their induction training, they will be deployed in schools.
NEPS psychologists are organised in ten regions corresponding to the health board regions. It is intended to assign newly appointed psychologists to all regions according to the student numbers in each. This will mean an annual improvement in the psychological service in each region until the staffing target has been reached. It is envisaged that there will ultimately be some 15 psychologists serving the east coast area, which includes County Wicklow.
392 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Science if, further to the expansion of the NEPS and following discussions with representatives of the health boards, it has been agreed that referrals for urgent psychological assessments of pupils in schools which have no access to its services as yet should be directed to the relevant health board; the way in which urgency is defined in this context, in view of the fact that early diagnosis is very important in the treatment of dyslexia; the degree of severity or obviousness a child's difficulty must involve in order to be considered urgent; the person responsible for making an decision in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28506/00]
A liaison group comprising representatives from the national educational psychological service, NEPS, agency and from the health boards has recently commenced its work. This group has identified a number of issues as priorities, including the consideration of procedures for co-ordinating the management of referrals for psychological assessment. Decisions about the urgency of individual referrals should be made collaboratively by the statutory agencies involved in consultation with parents and teachers.
I am aware that teachers and parents have experienced difficulties in gaining access to psycho-educational assessments pending the appointment of the full quota of psychologists for the NEPS. I have therefore asked the NEPS to develop a short-term strategy to alleviate the situation.
