Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 March 2018
134. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) has refused to refer a child for an assessment for special needs supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11138/18]
View answerFollowing a pilot which demonstrated strong support from principals, teachers and parents, my Department introduced a new model to support pupils with special educational needs in our schools. The new model differs significantly from the old Resource Allocation Model, as schools are now front-loaded with additional resources based on the profile of each individual school. This means that the Department has allocated special education teaching support directly to schools to enable them to respond to pupil needs without having to wait for an assessment to allow them to apply for additional resources. School can now respond to individual need in a flexible way and pupils do not have to have a psychological assessment or a diagnosis of a disability in order to access Special Education Teaching. It also means that those with highest level of need can access the highest level of support within the school. Medical or psychological assessments will still be used to assess a child’s needs, or the nature of difficulties they may have. However, an assessment, or diagnosis, will no longer be needed to access additional teaching support in schools.
I can inform the Deputy that my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising, and access to individual pupil casework via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments. (SCPA).
In common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution oriented consultative approach to maximize positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Only in the event of a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, will the psychologist become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment.
This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.
I have made enquiries with my Department's National Educational Psychological Service in respect of the child, the subject of the Deputy’s question and can inform him that as late as last week the child's case was raised by the school with their assigned NEPS psychologist and that following on from this approach an assessment is being scheduled later in this academic year.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
