Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
424 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Science the school and home support which has been put in place for a person (details supplied) in County Carlow; if a full assessment of this person has been completed; if all of the recommendations from that assessment have been acted upon. [21793/04]
View answerA detailed assessment report on this pupil has been supplied to my Department, together with an application from his school for additional resources in respect of specific learning disability. However, the test scores reported on did not meet the criteria specified by my Department and, therefore, additional individual resource hours have not been granted. The school was notified of this outcome in June 2004. However, the Deputy may be aware that my Department has developed a revised system for the allocation of teaching supports to pupils with special needs. An additional 350 teacher posts are being provided to facilitate the introduction of this system. The revised system will involve a general weighted allocation for all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher incidence special educational needs, including those with specific learning disability and also those with learning support needs. The school attended by this pupil will, therefore, be in a position to cater for his needs from within this weighted allocation.
