Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 February 2022
571. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if assistance will be provided in accessing autism spectrum disorder preschool support for a child (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4537/22]
View answerMany 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.
Your child and your child’s pre-school can avail of universal and targeted supports from AIM. Some children may need more targeted supports to participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. More information on AIM is available at: aim.gov.ie/
There is an AIM Early Years Specialist available to work with parents and pre-school providers to develop an inclusive learning environment for your child. Applying for AIM educational advice and mentoring is very simple. The parent is advised to speak with their pre-school provider who will make an application for targeted supports in collaboration with the parent. The pre-school will submit this application to Better Start through the Early Years on line portal ‘the HIVE’ on the parent’s behalf. Once reviewed, a Better Start Early Years Specialist will conduct a parent review to determine whether all other levels and supports have been considered and appropriately used, as well as obtain expert input from the HSE as necessary. This process can take up to a maximum of 12 weeks, however, current processing times are much shorter than this.
Children who are ECCE eligible and are attending a specialist pre-school service can also seek AIM supports. 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 age 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.
More information is available at: www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-education/.
