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Early Childhood Care and Education

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Questions (167)

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

167. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to expand autism specific services in the early years sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47693/21]

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Written answers

Many children with disabilities, including autism, take part in mainstream early learning and care services. Participation of children with disabilities in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) universal pre-school programme in mainstream early learning and care services is supported by the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which is delivered by my Department. The key objective of AIM is to support early learning and care providers to deliver an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that children with a disability can fully participate in the ECCE Programme, thereby reaping the benefits of quality preschool provision.

First 5, the Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, commits to consider enhancements to, or extension of AIM, following completion of the evaluation of AIM. Such an extension might involve younger children, longer hours of availability of targeted supports, children with additional needs other than a disability, or children attending school-age childcare services. Any decisions on extension or reform of AIM will be informed by the findings of the end-of-year-three evaluation of AIM, which is currently underway, with the final report due to be published in February 2022.

The 2015 report of the Inter-Departmental Group which led to the establishment of AIM recommended that specialist pre-school services for children with disabilities, which include services provided by the Department of Education and by the HSE, should remain in place at least during the initial years of AIM roll-out. These specialist pre-school services include autism-specific pre-school services provided by the Department of Education, which include:

- 132 Early Intervention Classes attached to primary schools for autistic children aged three and over.

- A Home Tuition Scheme which provides funding towards 10 hours' tuition for children under 3 years of age and 20 hours per week for children over 3 years of who cannot secure a placement in an early intervention class. Subject to conditions, parents are free to use the grant to engage tutors to deliver tuition in their home or pre-school providers to deliver tuition in a group/pre-school setting. Such arrangements are essentially between the parents and the relevant provider.

If parents are seeking a place for their child in primary school or in an early intervention class in a school setting, supports are available through the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), affiliated to the Department of Education. If so, I would recommend the parents to contact their local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) for further assistance. The local SENO contact details are available on www.ncse.ie.

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