Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 June 2004
157 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Education and Science the steps he is taking to reduce the long waiting period for primary and secondary school pupils in need of psychological assessment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19497/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraSeveral actions have been taken by my Department that will have the effect of reducing waiting times for assessments.
My Department has established the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. Provision of individual psychological assessments is part of the work of the educational psychologists in NEPS. The psychologists do not keep waiting lists of children requiring assessment in the sense of lists of names that are dealt with in chronological order. School authorities refer children for assessment and discuss the relative urgency of each case during the psychologist's visits. This allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and such children will be seen or referred on in a matter of weeks, if not days.
In order to add value to the psychological service, NEPS is pursuing a policy of enhancing the skills of teachers in the areas of group and individual testing, programme development and behavioural management. This means that many children's needs can be speedily met without the necessity for individual psychological assessment, although the psychologists are available as consultants to teachers and parents, thus helping the children in an indirect way. This is also having the effect of reducing waiting times.
NEPS is being developed on a phased basis over a number of years and has not yet reached its full staffing complement. Pending expansion of its service to all schools in the country, my Department has allocated funding to NEPS to allow for the commissioning of psychological assessments from private practitioners. NEPS has issued details of how to avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments to all schools.
There have been concerns in the past that some children may have been referred to more than one agency, thus increasing the waiting lists in schools and in health board clinics and leading to a duplication of effort. A joint working party, established by NEPS and the health boards, reported during 2002 with a series of recommendations aimed at promoting effective liaison at national, regional and local level. This report has been accepted by the relevant management groups and will now be implemented. It includes recommendations for effective protocols in regard to referrals and waiting lists and is the third initiative aimed at reducing waiting times for assessment.
My Department has been aware for some time that a substantial proportion of referrals for psychological assessment were made in order that children might be identified as eligible for additional resources to meet their special educational needs. I have recently announced the introduction of a new method of allocating such resources to schools, the weighted system. It is clear that children with certain categories of special educational need are so prevalent that every school may be expected to have to meet their needs. I have, therefore, introduced an automatic resource allocation to all schools, based on school population and expected prevalence of special educational needs. These resources may be assigned to individual children by the school authorities without the necessity for individual psychological assessment. Although there will always be a need for some individual psychological assessments, this initiative will lead to a marked reduction in waiting times for assessment and will allow NEPS psychologists more time to advise schools on the identification of children who need additional resources.
