Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 October 2013
203. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the disabilities that qualify for automatic low-incidence resource hours and the number of children currently receiving resource hours for each of these disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41893/13]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) recently published comprehensive policy advice on Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools. This policy advice is available at www.ncse.ie.
This publication provides details of the disabilities that qualify for low-incidence resource hours and also details the approximate number of number of students for whom low incidence resource teaching hours were allocated to schools for the academic year 2012-13.
This table, a copy of which is below, details the allocation by disability category, and shows that there were 31,202 pupils in receipt of low incidence resource hours, 21,421 at primary level, and 9,781 pupils at post primary level, during the 2012 - 2013 school year.
As the NCSE have not yet concluded the allocation of resource hours for the current school year the information requested by the Deputy for this year is not yet available.
Table 5: Approximate number of students for whom resource teaching hours (RTHs) were allocated to schools for low incidence disabilities for the academic year 2012-13
|
Category |
Primary (n) |
Post-primary (n) |
Total (n) |
|
Assessed syndrome |
217 |
63 |
280 |
|
Autism |
4487 |
2052 |
6539 |
|
EBD |
4143 |
2643 |
6786 |
|
Hearing impairment |
693 |
417 |
1110 |
|
Moderate GLD |
524 |
209 |
733 |
|
Multiple disabilities |
1890 |
675 |
2565 |
|
Physical disability |
3345 |
2190 |
5535 |
|
Severe EBD |
862 |
398 |
1260 |
|
Severe & profound GLD |
34 |
7 |
41 |
|
Specific speech and language disorder |
4932 |
912 |
5844 |
|
Visual impairment |
294 |
215 |
509 |
|
Total |
21,421 |
9,781 |
31,202 |
