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Departmental Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Questions (3)

Marian Harkin

Question:

3. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Education if she will include the CHO 1 area in the extension of the pilot of the school inclusion model. [35291/21]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

Will the Minister consider CHO 1, the Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan area, as one of the pilot areas to be included in the extension of the school inclusion model? As we know, this model is designed to give the necessary and appropriate supports to students with special needs within the school setting. It is a best practice model and offers the best option for inclusion, both inside and outside the school.

I thank the Deputy for her question. I note what she has said about the school inclusion model. It does give the appropriate supports to children with additional needs and it is best practice. It is based on the principle of providing the right educational, care and therapeutic supports at the right time for children with special education needs. Its purpose is to help these students achieve better education and life outcomes. The policy is based on evidence-based advice provided by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. Independent evaluation is critical to the development of this new model of service and its extension to other schools.

The school inclusion model includes the provision of in-school therapies, such as: speech and language and occupational therapies; the allocation of special needs assistants on a front-loaded basis, thereby removing the need for a diagnosis in order to access care support; additional professional supports for schools, including psychology, behavioural and professional development; and the training of special needs assistants. The model has been developed in collaboration with the Departments of Health and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the NCSE and the HSE.

In February 2019, the Government approved the trialling of the model for the 2019-2020 school year. Initially designed as a one-year pilot involving up to 75 participating schools in the CHO 7 region, comprising west Wicklow, Kildare and south west Dublin, it was interrupted by Covid-19 with the closure of schools and the diversion of HSE therapists from the project to Covid-related work. It was then extended to the 2020-2021 school year which was been interrupted by Covid. Progress has been made on aspects of the model but much remains to be done in terms of in-school implementation and evaluation.

The Minister of State has just told me how excellent the school inclusion model is. The reason I asked for the CHO 1 region, comprising Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan, to be included in the next phase of the pilot scheme is the unbelievable situation in the Sligo-Leitrim area regarding children who are awaiting initial assessment, treatment and further speech and language therapy. It is not just unacceptably high, it is far beyond the limits of what any health service could defend.

I submitted a parliamentary question in April this year and was informed that, in Sligo-Leitrim, there are currently 385 children awaiting initial assessment, 84 awaiting initial therapy and 444 awaiting further treatment with the speech and language therapy service. Those figures are unacceptable and that is why I am asking for the inclusion of CHO 1.

It is important to stress that the school inclusion model vis-à-vis the therapeutic supports it will provide in school is not in lieu of HSE therapeutic supports but is to complement them. I am working on the assessments and waiting times for those assessments with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.

The Deputy has referred to the selection of a region and specifically mentioned Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan. To know what the working group will take into account in terms of criteria, it may be helpful for the Deputy if I outline some of those. For an in-school therapy model in an urban and rural location, the area should be able to provide for a broad representative sample of schools and the region should be accessible to be supported from management services. There must also be capacity to recruit sufficient speech and language and occupational therapists. There must be a minimisation of travel time and clusters of schools can be established within a defined region.

I thank the Minister of State for her response, and as she rightly says, those services are extra. I am making such a strong case for that region to be included because the services there are virtually non-existent. I mentioned the waiting lists, but that was not my only question. I also asked about the positions allocated and filled. Looking at the area of occupational therapy, only 84% of the positions allocated have been filled. For physiotherapy, the figure is 90%. For speech and language therapy, however, only 59% of the positions allocated were filled in the Sligo-Leitrim region. I got those figures in an answer to a parliamentary question in March this year. Those figures are heartbreaking. Each statistic represents a child and a family. The Minister of State does not have a magic wand, but this pilot programme can make a significant difference and I ask her to strongly consider this region.

I do not disagree with the Deputy. This school inclusion model will make a significant difference. I will bring the Deputy's comments and contribution on the availability of therapists to the attention of the Minister of State with responsibility in this area, Deputy Rabbitte. Returning to the criteria for this region, it is important that there should be no overlap with existing in-school speech and language pilot projects. There should be capacity to co-ordinate with existing HSE services and to bring all schools together for continuing professional development, CPD, events. They should, if possible, be in an area which has been reconfigured in respect of progressing services for people with disabilities. These similar criteria could form a basis for a future roll-out. We are aware, obviously, that extra funding was provided to us in the budget, through the NCSE to recruit extra therapists, behavioural practitioners, etc., so that we can expand the school inclusion model from this September and in the years to come. That will revolutionise the experience for children with additional needs, as the Deputy stated.

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