School closure creates problems for parents

PARENTS of children with autism whose school in north Dublin is being closed due to lack of public funding say they are having trouble finding them places elsewhere for next September.

Daniel O’Mahony, a director of the Achieve ABA school in Donaghmede, said the problem might not be so bad if the Department of Education had not waited three months to reject their funding proposal.

His eight-year-old son Aidan is one of eight children attending the school, which has been funded up to now by parents and grants they were getting for home tuition.

The school opened in 2006 and uses the Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) teaching method which many families credit with major improvements in their children’s communication skills.

But the Department of Education only funds schools working with autistic pupils if they provide a mix of ABA and other recognised teaching methods, depending on each child’s individual needs. This mix is less costly as the staffing levels are not as high as those needed where ABA teaching is the only method used.

Despite appeals to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn at a recent meeting arranged by local TDs, the department has turned down the school’s appeal to provide funding. The school sent a proposal to the department in March to help keep the school open, suggesting it would be 20% cheaper than the average cost of educational and other supports for autistic children.

Around 5,000 pupils attend 430 special classes attached to mainstream and special schools and 18 special schools for children with autism. The last government continued funding to 12 former ABA schools, which became special schools using the different autism teaching methods last year.