Mother may take children’s case to Europe

A MOTHER whose two children have been turned away from a special language school said she is going to take their case to the European courts if necessary.

Caroline O'Dwyer and her husband, Paul, have battled for years to get intensive language therapy for their six- year-old daughter, Shannon, and four year-old son, Paul Jnr, who both have language disorders. However, there's no place for them at the local language school in Kilkenny city as they have to be in a mainstream school for a year to qualify. But the classroom assistants they need to go to a mainstream school outside the city have not been sanctioned by the Department of Education and Science.

"I want to be able to look my children in the eyes and tell them I did everything I possibly could for them. I don't want to go to court, as I have enough on my plate. My husband works for Radio Kilkenny and that is threatened with closure," Mrs O'Dywer said. "But I'm being forced to take legal advice and battle for them. I could have put them into school and let a teacher discover they have communication difficulties. But I went through the proper channels and look where it got us.

"The department wrote to Freshford National School on Friday last looking for another report on my children before they would sanction classroom assistants for them. The department has reports coming out its ears at this stage," said Mrs O'Dywer. The Department of Education said yesterday that Scoil Mhuire Presentation Convent on Parnell Street in Kilkenny has a special language unit and applications for places for this academic year were accepted up to November of last year.

"As there are generally more applicants than places, a waiting list applies. To qualify for placement in the unit, children have to be in a primary school for a minimum of one year and furnish a teacher's report, psychological assessment and a report from a speech and language therapist," a spokesperson said.

Mrs O'Dwyer said it's a no-win situation because without a classroom assistant, neither of her children can even aspire to going to school.

These special language units obviously can't cope with demand so they put in a clause that you have to be in a mainstream school for one or two years. But our kids can't go to a mainstream school without help. If they could manage , we'd have sent them a long time ago."

The department confirmed an application has been received for special educational needs for the O'Dwyer children from the principal at Freshford National School. "This mainstream school will be considered further once the appropriate supporting documents are submitted," the a department spokesperson said.