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Special Educational Needs.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004

Tuesday, 15 June 2004

Questions (207, 208)

Jan O'Sullivan

Question:

257 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if a special needs assistant will be allocated to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 10 whose application was first sent to his Department in February 2003 with an additional report in December 2003; and if his attention was drawn to the fact that a special needs assistant is essential for this person to participate in class in a non disruptive way. [17390/04]

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Written answers

On 24 October 2003 my Department received an application for special educational resources for the pupil. On 2 January further documentation was received.

At present the school has the services of one full-time learning support teacher, one part-time resource teacher and four full-time special needs assistants.

The position is that SER applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered at present. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children starting school last September and all these cases were responded to at or before the commencement of the current school year.

The balance of more than 4,000 applications has been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the national educational psychological service. These applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year and the data submitted by schools as part of a nationwide census of SER provision.

The processing of the applications is a complex and time consuming operation. My Department shall complete the process as quickly as possible and my officials will respond to all applicant schools. Pending a response, schools are advised to refer to circular 24/03 that was issued in September 2003. The circular contains practical advice on how to achieve the most effective deployment of resources already allocated for special educational needs in a school.

Teacher resources for each applicant school will be based on a new weighted system of allocation that I announced recently. The system, as part of an additional allocation of 350 teaching posts, will involve two main elements: making a staffing allocation to schools based on a predicted incidence of pupils with special educational needs; and making individual allocations in the case of children with more acute lower prevalence special educational needs.

It is expected that the change to a weighted system will bring with it a number of benefits. The new system will reduce the need for individualised educational psychological assessment, reduce the volume of applications to my Department for additional resources for individual pupils and give greater flexibility to schools, which will facilitate the development and implementation of improved systems and procedures in schools to meet the needs of pupils with low achievement and pupils with special educational needs.

Transitional arrangements for the introduction of the weighted system are being developed in consultation with representative interests. As soon as the consultations have been completed the detailed arrangements for processing applications for resources, including those for special needs assistants and those received after 31 August, will be set out in a circular that will be issued to schools.

Jan O'Sullivan

Question:

258 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention was drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in Dublin 10 is due to lose three of its four special needs assistants in September, despite its disadvantaged designation, due to the delay in his Department’s sanctioning psychological assessments in the past year; and if the school will retain the resources its pupils need. [17391/04]

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The school receives a service from NEPS. My Department does not sanction a specified number of assessments to be carried out by the organisation in a school. It is a matter for discussion between the school's authorities and the assigned psychologist.

In this case a psychologist assigned to the schools conducted four psychological assessments during the current school year, in addition to consultation work. It was one more assessment than had been planned for at the start of the year. It is the normal level of service that can be provided by NEPS for a school of its size and type.

At present my Department allocates special needs assistant support on the basis of the assessed care needs of individual pupils. Special needs assistants may be approved to support a pupil who has a significant medical need for such assistance, a significant impairment of physical or sensory function or where their behaviour is such that they are a danger to themselves or other pupils. The criteria used for the assessment of the need for special needs assistant support is outlined in my Department's circular 07/02. Resources will be retained in schools where there is a continuing care need in accordance with circulars.

My Department continues to review the existing arrangements for the allocation of special educational supports to primary schools. The basic purpose of the review is to ensure that each school has the level of resources required to cater for its pupils with special educational needs.

I am anxious to ensure that special education support services are properly targetted at the children who require them. Resources for the sector was substantially increased. I want the resources to have the desired effect of ensuring that all children assessed as having special needs receive enough support.

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