Places sought for autistic children after school closure

THE Department of Education has confirmed that eight autistic children whose school was closed down in the summer will have to receive home tuition while places are found for them.

The children had been attending the Achieve ABA school in Donaghmede, north Co Dublin.

However, it closed during the summer after those in charge of the school — which uses the ABA (applied behavioural analysis) method of teaching preferred by some parents of children with autism — that funding was not available to keep it operating.

The school closed in late July after Education Minister Ruairí Quinn rejected funding proposals.

The school had built up a shortfall of close to €100,000. Most of the money had been provided by parents of the children attending.

At the time of the closure Daniel O’Mahony, whose 8-year-old son Aidan attended the school, said he had costed proposals that showed the ABA teaching model was 25% cheaper than educating autistic children in special needs schools.

Parents had been experiencing difficulties in finding school places for the children who had been at the Achieve school, and the Department of Education has confirmed that it will offer home tuition while the search for places continues.

A department spokes-person said: “The NCSE [National Council for Special Education] has been working throughout the summer to identify and secure placements for the eight children in question.

“As part of this process both the NCSE and the NEPS [National Educational Psychological Service] have been in regular contact with the parent group.

“Progress has been made in identifying places for the children concerned.

“However, a number of the placements will not be immediately available.

“Because of this the department has sanctioned home tuition for the children for a period of one month in the expectation that all of the placements will be available by the expiry of the sanction. Thereafter, the home tuition provision will cease.”

The spokesperson said the home tuition scheme was intended to provide a compensatory educational service to children who for a variety of reasons can not attend school and that the department was of the view that securing educational placements for the children was in their best interests.