Parents take special needs fight to court

THE DEPARTMENT of Education and Science is being hauled into the dock by 80 parents of special needs children.

While some have been granted limited help, others have been denied any access to the specialist resources they need a place in a special school or the necessary assistance to allow them mix with others in mainstream education.

The department received 5,500 new requests for special needs help for children in schools nationwide over the past six months, putting a severe strain on its resources, its officials say.

And while 515 children beginning schools have been granted their requests for special needs assistants, technology or physical adjustments such as ramps at doors, thousands more remain in limbo in the first week of the new school term.

The comments came as Kilkenny mother, Caroline O'Dwyer, confirmed she is also heading to the courts to try to get the special needs help that her daughter Shannon, six, and son Paul, 4, need. The children have a language disorder, yet there's no room for them at a local language unit and the assistants they need to go to a mainstream school have not yet been sanctioned.

The Department of Education and Science said it's not fair for parents to say that the needs of all children are not being addressed. In the case of teaching resources, there are currently some 2,300 resource teachers, 1,531 learning support teachers, 500 special class teachers and 1,200 teachers in special schools.

This amounts to 5,531 teachers dedicated to meeting special educational needs, at an approximate cost of 250 million. In addition, there are almost 5,460 special needs assistants (4,320 full-time and 1,140 part-time) with a payroll of over 100m.

"To put the level of special education staff resources into perspective, the total of 10,991 is more than half of the entire number of primary teachers in the system in 1998."

The Department of Education and Science allocates additional resources for children with special educational needs on the basis of professionally assessed needs and in accordance with criteria set out in its circulars.

The applications and supporting documentation are reviewed by Psychologists in the National Educational Psychological Service. The allocation may include resource teaching or special needs assistant resources.

"In the case of resource teaching, the level of the allocation is determined by the category of disability. In the case of children with Down's Syndrome, the allocation is generally in the order of two-and-a-half to five hours resource teaching in addition to the teaching given by the mainstream class teacher and, where appropriate, learning support teachers.

"An allocation of Special Needs Assistants support is appropriate where a pupil has significant medical need for such assistance, a significant impairment of physical sensory function or where their behaviour is such that they are a danger to themselves or others. Their duties are of a non-teaching nature. "The level of such assistance depends on the severity of a child's condition. Children with the same disability may have different needs, eg one child, say with Down's Syndrome, may require assistance with toileting and another may not," the department said.

5,500 applications for special needs help were received between February 15, 2003, and August 21, 2003.

Of these, 780 related to infants beginning school in September.

Of that 780, 615 responses were issued within the past few weeks.

Of the 615 responses issued, in 515 cases the request was granted.

A further 165 applicants were told further information was required.

Junior Certificate special needs applications will be the next to be addressed.