Seán Crowe
Question:350 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science the waiting time in the Galway area for an assessment for children with learning and behavioural difficulties. [11395/04]
View answerTuesday, 27 April 2004
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Written answers
If a teacher or parent has concerns about a child's learning and/or behavioural difficulties, the school can arrange an immediate educational assessment, administered by teaching staff. This will result in the drafting of a plan for extra help within the normal classroom setting in the relevant areas of learning and/or behavioural management. The success of the plan should be reviewed on a regular basis, with appropriate parental involvement. Teachers in schools that have access to the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, may consult their area psychologist informally about their proposed learning or behavioural management plan. This consultation can usually be organised within a matter of weeks.
In the case of children with marked behavioural difficulties, where the class teacher's plan fails to achieve the desired outcome, then the child should, with parental permission, be referred to the clinical services of the Western Health Board. The length of waiting time for clinical assessment is a matter for the health board and voluntary bodies under its aegis.
In the case of children with learning difficulties, where the class teacher's plan fails to achieve the desired outcome, then the child should be referred to the school's learning support teacher for further diagnostic testing. If this diagnostic assessment indicates that supplementary teaching would be beneficial, then this should be arranged by the school. Learning support teachers in schools that have access to NEPS may consult their area psychologist about diagnostic test results and about their proposed educational plans. This further in-school assessment can take place within a matter of a few weeks, if not days.
School staff and parents should regularly review the progress of each child receiving supplementary teaching. If significant concerns remain after a reasonable period, then it may be necessary for the school to make a formal request for a consultation and assessment of need from a specialist from outside the school. Such specialist advice may be sought from psychologists, paediatricians, speech and language therapists, audiologists etc. With the exception of educational psychologists, these specialists are employed by the Western Health Board or by voluntary bodies under their aegis and, as stated earlier, the length of waiting times is a matter for the health board.
Provision of individual educational psychological assessments is part of the work of the educational psychologists in NEPS. Where the NEPS service is not yet available, the school may commission an assessment from a private practitioner under the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, funded by my Department.
NEPS psychologists do not keep waiting lists of children requiring assessment in the sense of lists of names that are dealt with in chronological order. Each psychologist is responsible for a number of named schools, and visits each on a regular basis. The school authorities provide names of children who are giving cause for concern and discuss the relative urgency of each case during the psychologist's visits. This allows the psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and such children will be seen or referred on in a matter of weeks, if not days. Where cases are less urgent, the psychologist will, as already described, act as a consultant to teachers and parents and offer advice about educational and behavioural plans. If the Deputy has particular cases in mind where waiting times for educational psychological assessment have seemed too long, then NEPS management will be glad to discuss these with the relevant schools and/or parents.