'Two-year wait' for special needs help

SPECIAL NEEDS children moving from primary to secondary school are waiting up to two years for assistance because of a lack of resources, a teachers' union leader said yesterday.

Susie Hall, who became president of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) at the start of August, said getting proper support for students with learning difficulties will be one of her main priorities this year.

She said students who had the benefit of resource teachers or special needs assistants in primary school were often left waiting up to two years into their second-level education before receiving similar help.

"That just puts them back where they were or even further back, especially having to do subjects they did not learn at primary school," Ms Hall said.

"There must be a more rapid response from the Department of Education. If children are waiting up to two years for help, that time can never be recaptured and their progress is irredeemably halted," she said.

A survey published by ASTI at its annual convention in Easter showed that at least 10% of second-level students have some form of special educational need, ranging from mild learning difficulties to serious behavioural disorders. This means there are approximately 34,000 children requiring special needs assistance.

Ms Hall said waiting to access help to aid their progress is a job in itself.

"Most teachers have not had five minutes of training to deal with children with special needs. The other children have to be helped to do their best and teachers are under pressure to help them as well," Ms Hall said.

She wants the Department of Education to provide intensive training for teachers, as well as the provision of faster assessment of students with special needs and more staff to help them.

The Department of Education is processing school applications for extra staff to help students with special educational needs. During the last school year 1,050 full-time resource teacher posts and 465 special needs assistants (SNAs) were paid for at second level by the department, compared to 700 resource teachers and 400 SNAs the previous year.

A department spokesperson said teachers can also access training through the Special Education Support Service to meet the needs of staff over difficulties arising from having children with special needs in mainstream classes.

She said primary and second-level teachers can also avail of a postgraduate degree in special needs education to help develop school policies on the issue.