Parents angry over special needs cuts

PARENTS of special needs children said they face further cutbacks after the Department of Education confirmed children signed up for the free preschool year will have specialist home tuition hours cut.

A new circular from the Department of Education has made it clear that a child will not be allowed to hold on to its full home tuition allocation if it is availing of the 15 hour per week Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme.

Home tuition hours are given to children who have been diagnosed as needing one-on-one help to develop basic skills such as communication and task completion. The Department of Education allows four-year-old children with autism, for example, up to 20 hours of home tuition per week. Yesterday, they stressed this allocation was dependent on a school placement not being available.