The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, funded by my Department, provides universal, free pre-school to children within the eligible age range of 2 years and 8 months to 5 years and 6 months.
In a limited number of circumstances, it is possible to apply for an exemption to the upper age limit of 5 years 6 months where a child has special/additional needs. An exemption has already been granted for the child named and there is no provision for granting a second overage exemption.
The child named is now of school going age. In the review of the overage exemption process which was carried out by the National Disability Authority (NDA) for my Department and the Department of Education in 2018 the NDA concluded in their published report that it is in the best interest of children with additional needs to transition to primary school with their age cohort.
Supports are available for school aged children through the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), affiliated to the Department of Education, to support children in the primary school setting. I would urge the child’s parents to contact her local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) for further assistance at NCSE.ie .
I am acutely aware that the transition to primary school can be an anxious time for parents however the ECCE programme should not delay a child’s entry to primary school.
The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) was introduced in 2016 to ensure that children with a disability can access and participate in the ECCE programme. AIM was designed and tailored to support ECCE-age children and as such AIM is directly linked with ECCE participation. The model achieves this by providing universal supports to pre-school settings, and targeted supports, which focus on the needs of the individual child, without requiring a diagnosis of disability.
Amongst other things AIM can provide for advice and supports, equipment to children within the ECCE-age range and can also allow for an additional educator to support children with higher levels of need.
Since its introduction in 2016, 32,000 children have availed of targeted supports along with many more children who have benefitted from universal measures enhancing inclusion in the service generally.
