In the past few years not a week has gone by in the Seanad without Senators requesting more speech therapy teachers. I am aware that there is a shortage but I will give the case of one student in a school in Limerick, the Catherine McAuley Special School, which will illustrate the need for the immediate appointment of a speech and language therapist. This student's experience is replicated in many cases throughout the midwest and other areas.
The girl in question is 13 and has Down's Syndrome. In her early years she was getting a certain amount of speech therapy from the health board but quite a number of speech therapists came and went, which meant that every time a new one was appointed there would be a new programme, new assessments and so on. Her parents had no complaint about any of the speech therapists apart from the number of speech therapists the girl had dealt with and the short amount of time spent with each one. While this was going on the parents applied for the child to be accepted at the Catherine McAuley Special School in Limerick, where she would get speech therapy that would render her ineligible for speech therapy at the Rockstown clinic.
The parents cannot say enough about the excellence of the school and its teachers. She started at the school in 1997 and was getting on extremely well except for speech development. For the last two years the school has had no speech and language teacher available for the girl's development, so she is in limbo. Because she is supposed to be getting speech therapy from that school she is not getting it from the health board, so she is left without any speech therapy.
This is the area in which the girl needs help most. The school lost its last speech and language therapist in Christmas 1999 and at that time the girl in question was in a group class for the maximum 12 weeks outside a mid-term break. That school has a designated specialist speech and language therapy unit sitting idle for two years. The parents who came to me are pressing hard for their daughter. She is now 13 so Members can imagine how many years she has lost in gaining confidence to speak. The fact that she has Down's Syndrome makes it more poignant as she obviously has a speech difficulty, though she is doing extremely well in all other areas. She is caught because the health board is saying that speech and language therapy is supposed to be available at the school.
The parents are making concerted efforts on her behalf but what exactly is the Minister doing? The principal wants a senior appointment as there is no good in having speech therapists joining and then leaving again. I cannot see the State's logic in this situation. Parents paid for this specialist unit, which I have visited, but this magnificent facility is lying idle for two years and the child in question has had no access to speech therapy one way or the other since the school lost its speech therapist and cannot find a replacement.
I am appealing to the Minister of State and I do not want a bureaucratic answer. One of the most frustrating aspects of raising an Adjournment Matter is that one has no chance to question the answer one is given. I expect the answer to be positive and that a speech therapist will be appointed to the school. It is extraordinary that this pristine, state of the art facility is unused while the child in question has no access to health board facilities. Senator Costello would agree with me as he has raised this issue also. As a secondary teacher myself I know that when such children reach second level it is too late for any interventions.
It is not as if these parents have not worked on their child's behalf; ever since she was born they were determined to do what they could for their child. I am sad that she is now 13 and has not made the progress she might. This is one child too many in this position; I know the situation is replicated in many cases elsewhere. It is very poignant after the much-heralded budget yesterday. There can be no excuse for the fact that this child and many others in her school are left in this extraordinary position in a designated school while a specialist unit sits there like a white elephant. It is appalling and I hope the Minister of State tells me there will be an appointment immediately.
