Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2016
727. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the National Council for Special Education will recognise the global development delay condition as a disability that requires the provision of special needs assistance and resource hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6220/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that additional teaching supports for pupils with special education needs is provided in two ways. In primary schools, under the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, schools are resourced to cater for pupils whose educational psychological assessment places them in the high incidence, or less complex, disability category. All mainstream primary schools have been allocated additional teaching resources under the GAM to cater for children with high incidence special educational needs or learning support needs. In post primary schools, similar general allocations have been made to schools to support pupils with high incidence, or learning support, needs. It is a matter for individual schools to use their professional judgement to identify pupils who will receive this support and to use the resources available to the school to intervene at the appropriate level with such pupils. Schools are supported in this regard by guidance from the National Educational Psychological Services. Separately, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocates additional resource teaching hours to schools for children who have been assessed within the low incidence, or more complex, category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular SP. Ed 02/05. I am advised that the diagnosis of Global Development Delay is generally reserved for children under the age of 5 years, when the clinical severity level cannot be reliably assessed during early childhood. This category is diagnosed when an individual fails to meet expected developmental milestones in several areas of intellectual functioning, and applies to individuals who are unable to undergo systematic assessment on intellectual functioning, including children who are too young to participate in standardised testing. This category requires reassessment after a period of time. Pupils who have learning support needs, and who have a diagnosis of Global Development Delay, may therefore receive resource teaching/learning support from a schools General Allocation Model, pending further assessment. Where pupils with Global Development Delay may be subsequently assessed as having a low incidence special educational need, such as a moderate general learning difficulty, or one of the other categories of low incidence disability set out in DES Circular 02/05, an additional allocation of resource teaching time may be made to the school to support the child. The criteria for the provision of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support is set out in my Departments Circular DES 30/2014.
This Circular details that SNA support will be provided to assist children with special educational needs, who also have assessed additional and significant care needs, in an educational context. As such, support is provided on a basis of an assessment of special educational care needs, as opposed to being based primarily on a diagnosis of a particular disability. Pupils who have Global Development Delay, and who also have been assessed as having significant care needs may therefore qualify for SNA support, if required. The NCSE will consider all applications for SNA or resource teaching support made by schools. Schools will be advised of their resource teaching allocations for the 2016/17 school year, prior to the end of the current school year. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.
