It is the policy of my Department that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network.
Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers, with the support of Special Needs Assistants and the appropriate school curriculum.
Decisions about placement should be based on individual needs and take into account a number of factors including parental wishes, availability of evidence-based treatments and well-trained staff and individual factors such as targets for intervention and management of behaviours.
Some students, although academically able to access the curriculum in mainstream, may find it too difficult to manage full-time placement there. This can be due to significant difficulties in areas such as behaviour or sensory needs which have not been ameliorated, even with appropriate intervention, in mainstream.
Others may have such complex needs that they are best placed in a special school.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), co-ordinates special needs education provision at local level and arranges for the delivery of special educational supports to schools. It is also the role of the NCSE to make appropriate arrangements to establish special classes in schools in communities where the need for such classes has been identified.
The NCSE is aware of emerging need from year to year, and where special provision is required it is planned and established to meet that need.
The NCSE has advised my Department that the child referred to by the Deputy is attending a mainstream class and accessing SNA support. Recent professional reports indicate that the child will require a special class placement. The NCSE local SENO has identified a number of special class placement options for the 2018/19 school year to the child’s Parents.
The enrolment of a child in a school is a matter, in the first instance, for the parents of the child and the Board of Management of a school. My Department and the NCSE has no role in relation to processing applications for enrolment to schools.
Accordingly, the NCSE has advised the parents, to seek to enrol their child, by applying in writing, to the school/s of their choice as early as possible.
In this regard, where Parents have been unsuccessful in enrolling their child in a special class placement for the 2018/19 school year, they should update their local SENO to inform the planning process.
The NCSE is continuing to work with schools, parents, NEPS, health professionals and other staff who are involved in the provision of services for children with special educational needs, to ensure that each child has a placement appropriate to their needs for the 2018/19 school year.
The NCSE pamphlet on moving between and mainstream and special settings provides information and practical guidance for Parents on supporting their child to make a successful transition. It is available on the NCSE website at http://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/02157-NCSE-2016-Changing-Schools-SpecialtoMainstream-final-08.02.16.pdf.
