Vol. 523 No. 1
1108 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the assessment procedures in operation in his Department, on a county by county basis, to assess children where a teacher or parent suspects they are suffering from dyslexia. [20580/00]
The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, provides a support service to schools, including advice on, and assessment of, specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. This service is available to all post-primary schools in every county.
A psychological service is also provided by the Vocational Educational Committees of the City and County of Dublin. At present, the NEPS service is available to primary schools located as follows: all national schools designated as disadvantaged in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick; all national schools in south Tipperary; clusters of 20-30 national schools in the following areas: County Clare, east County Cork, north County Dublin, Galway city and county, north Kerry, County Kildare, County Louth, County Mayo, County Meath, County Offaly, County Sligo, north Tipperary and County Wicklow.
It should be noted that an individual psychological assessment is not always necessary in cases of specific learning difficulty. A teacher's assessment may well produce sufficient diagnostic information for an effective remedial programme to be put into place.
