Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Questions (181)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

181. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 249 of 15 April 2014 in view of the importance of the model A document in the Ó Cuanacháin High Court case, which lasted 68 days and whose judgment was delivered on 16 May 2007 in which model A was referred to over 100 times, and in view of the confirmation from him that responsibility for policy resides with the Minister of the Department, if he will provide details of the exact date of the decision by the then Minister that model A should become outdated; if he will provide a copy of the briefing note prepared for him at that time that formed the basis for that important decision or, in the absence of forwarding this documentation with his reply, whether it can be assumed that no documentation exists and that there is no written record of that ministerial decision. [19158/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

As previously advised models responding to the differential needs of children with autism were developed over time as a result of engagement between administrative and professional staff from within and external to my Department. Subsequently it was recognised that the model concept was complex and multi-purpose. It was determined that parents of children with autism should have three distinct choices available to them; their child could either attend a mainstream class in their local school with additional supports as required, they could attend a special class in a mainstream school or they could attend a special school. However it's important to clarify that what was portrayed by the model concept was not disregarded, rather the scenarios described by the models were simplified. Elements of teaching frameworks, whole school training and the extended school year remain features of current provision. As the model terminology was primarily internal the discontinuation of its use did not require a Ministerial decision. In the course of the period of transfer from the Department to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which fully concluded in or around 2008, the language around models had fallen into disuse and was replaced by the type of correspondence between schools and the NCSE which is seen largely today.