Mother’s only option is to build a school for autistic son

UNLIKE thousands of parents across the country, Emer Paterson cannot send her autistic son Conor back to school this week.

Instead she is trying to raise €50,000 to ensure he gets the education he needs.

On Tuesday, she hosted a meeting of four Kerry families with a consultant who advised them on ways to raise the €200,000 required to give of their special needs children a yearly education.

The needs of Conor and the three other children are too severe for mainstream schools and while there is a dedicated class in Tralee for autistic children, it is only equipped for the milder end of the autism spectrum.

Instead, the parents are working to establish their own school based on Applied Behavioural Analysis methods in Lixnaw.

Educated at his home in Ballyheigue, six-year-old Conor has received intermittent psychological intervention since his diagnosis. However, two years elapsed between his last two assessments.

Together with the parent’s group, Emer is preparing to send a submission to the Department of Education next week asking it to sanction funding for an ABA school in Kerry.

Conor has been registered with the Brothers of Charity since 2001 but because resources in this area are so limited, he has only been able to avail of a small amount of help.

His mother said: “My son is non-verbal and needs continuing intensive speech therapy. Since 2001 we have been given three blocks (of psychological therapy) where you only get 40 minutes a week for eight weeks, and that is for a child that was assessed as urgently needing therapy.

“And that was thanks to me constantly pestering them with letters and phone calls,” she said.

In order to qualify for ABA education, each child had to undergo a special Psychological Educational Assessment, but the waiting list can be up to two years.

Last month the Kerry parents were the first to avail of a clinic set up by Irish Autism Action which has raised €450,000 to assess 300 children in the next 12 months.