I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136, 140 and 141 together.
Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government.
This year, the Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing a wide range of schemes and supports for children with special educational needs. This includes additional teaching and care supports.
As a result, the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.
Primary and post-primary schools make provision for pupils’ special educational needs (SEN) through a continuum of interventions ranging from additional support teaching in mainstream schools to placement in a special class or, in some cases, enrolment in a special school. Schools are provided with the resources, through the special education teacher allocation model, to assist them in meeting the needs of their students, including those with language difficulties. Schools are required to target their additional resources at those students requiring the greatest level of support.
Specialist provision for children with SSLD is available at primary level. This is based on the principle of early intervention. There are sixty-three special classes for pupils with SSLD attached to mainstream primary schools in dispersed geographical locations. These classes cater for pupils with a very specific set of language needs by enrolling them for a maximum of two years. The classes are designed to provide a time-limited, targeted intervention for children with severe impairments in their skills of understanding and expressing themselves through spoken language. The special classes focus on a relatively narrow cohort of pupils whose language difficulty is not otherwise attributable to co-morbid factors such as general learning disability, deafness or behavioural challenges. Pupils who attend special classes for children with SSLD return to mainstream provision following the two year intervention and they can avail of further support from the school’s special education teacher.