Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 July 2021
509. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in the implementation of the access and inclusion model of supports for children with disabilities as outlined in the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021. [38035/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn line with the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021, my Department continues to make progress towards full implementation of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), supporting children with disabilities to access and meaningfully participate in the universal, free Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.
AIM provides a range of both universal and targeted measures, to support children with disabilities to take part in the ECCE pre-school programme in mainstream settings, and to help make pre-school services more inclusive – benefiting all children in those services. The degree of support provided through AIM depends on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school service. The levels of support include:
Universal supports (Levels 1-3)
- Level 1, which aims to embed an inclusive culture in services, includes the national inclusion policy and guidelines for ECCE, the funding of the LINC training programme in Leadership for Inclusion, the establishment of Inclusion Co-Ordinator roles in ECCE settings, and a small increase in capitation for services with qualified Inclusion Coordinators.
- Level 2 involves provision of information for parents and providers on AIM, through the AIM.gov.ie website and information provided by County/City Childcare Committees.
- Level 3 recognises the requirement to continue to develop a qualified workforce that can confidently meet the needs of all children participating in the ECCE Programme. Supports include funding of training courses such as Hanen, Lámh and Sensory Processing E-Learning (SPEL).
Targeted supports (Levels 4-7)
- Level 4 addresses the needs of early years practitioners to have timely access to advice and support from experts in early learning and care (and disability in particular) to assist them meet each child’s needs.
- Level 5 recognises that some children require specialised equipment, appliances, assistive technology and/or that some early learning and care settings may require minor structural alterations to ensure children with a disability can participate in the ECCE programme. Supports include grants for equipment and some minor capital building works.
- Level 6 provides access to therapeutic supports where they are critical to enable a child be enrolled, and fully participate, in the ECCE programme.
- Level 7: Additional assistance in the pre-school room involves additional capitation for service providers where an application process has demonstrated that supports Level 1-6 have not, or will not, by themselves, meet the child’s needs. Funding can be used by the provider to buy in additional support, or reduce the staff / child ratio, supporting the pre-school leader to ensure the child’s optimal participation.
In total, 15,321 children have so far benefited from targeted AIM supports since AIM began in 2016. In the 2020/21 ECCE programme year, 4,245 children have benefited from targeted AIM supports.
The number of approvals for additional assistance under Level 7 of AIM rose from 3,011 in 2017 to 3,928 in 2018, and to a high of 4,657 in 2019. In 2020, the number fell to 2,868, due to service providers availing instead of Covid-19 financial support through the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS).
The number of Inclusion Co-ordinators (INCOs) in early learning and care services, supported through AIM, has increased year on year from 749 in 2017, to 2,378 in 2021.
An evaluation of AIM is currently under way. The final evaluation report is due at the end of the year.
