Children get language help

AFTER writing hundreds of letters to the Government and quitting her job, Caroline O’Dwyer has finally won her two-year battle for her children to attend a special language school.

Mrs O’Dwyer had threatened to take the Government to court when her two children were initially turned away from such a school.

Seven-year-old Shannon O’Dwyer and her brother Paul, five, both suffer a profound language disorder. They have finally been granted a place at a special school tailored to their needs following their mother’s campaign.

Caroline and her husband, Paul Snr, can understand what their children say. However, their language skills lag roughly four years behind the level achieved by others their age.

The O’Dwyers feared their children would fall further behind without specialist help.

“We’ve managed to get them into the language unit here in Kilkenny,” Mrs O’Dwyer said yesterday. The children had been told last year they could not attend the specialist school in Kilkenny city until they spent a year in mainstream education.

However, just getting them a place in a mainstream school proved a major hurdle for the parents. Their persistence eventually paid off with places for the children at Freshford National School outside the city.

They’d been to Athlone and Dublin, pressing their case, and wrote hundreds of letters to various government departments as well as the South Eastern Health Board. Caroline even gave up her work as a personal assistant to focus on the campaign.

They are extremely grateful to the principal and teachers at Freshford National School for their help. They say their children now have their best chance yet, with places at the specialist unit at Scoil Mhuire Presentation Convent school.

“We had to threaten to take our case to the European Court. I wanted to be able to look my children in the eyes and tell them I did everything I could to help them,” Mrs O’Dwyer said.

The Department of Education has also sanctioned finance for other children in the Kilkenny area who also need specialist help. Funding has also been approved for the first ever service for autistic children at the region with the opening, also in September, of a school in Goresbridge.