Watchdog probes cuts to autistic tuition scheme
The move comes as Inclusion Ireland, autism groups, and opposition politicians have demanded clarity from Government over the operation of the home-based July Provision programme.
The scheme has operated on a one-to-one tuition basis for eligible children, but autism groups have claimed the terms have been changed so that families with two or more qualifying children may end up sharing a tutor.
One parent, Mary Dunne of the Laois Offaly Families For Autism and Special Needs Parents Association, has three children that qualify for the programme and branded the change “discriminatory”.
The programme is available to a child who has been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and/or a severe to profound learning disability if the school where the child is enrolled is not providing tuition for the month of July, when 10 hours per week home-based provision may be grant aided to eligible pupils.
Application forms for this year’s scheme must be sent to the department no later than Jun 12.
A spokesperson for the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, said the office had received a complaint from a parent and was now investigating.
Opposition TDs, including Clare Daly and Sinn Féin’s Jonathan O’Brien, also raised the issue, while Inclusion Ireland said the policy seemed “haphazard”.
Inclusion Ireland’s information manager Siobhan Kane said: “If it does go through it will be discriminatory within families. It does not make any sense and it seems to have been done in a haphazard way.”
She said a relatively small number of people would be affected by any change, raising questions as to how much money would actually be saved through a measure which she said would increase the stress experienced within those families.
In a statement, the department said in the “vast majority of cases” one-to-one tuition would be available, “in a small number of cases where there are qualifying siblings, a combined allocation is made.
“As this provision is intended to compensate for the absence of school-based provision, it is reasonable to reflect the school grouping principle and allocate to siblings accordingly,” said the statement.
“For example, in a school setting, one teacher is allocated to a class of six pupils with autism. Accordingly it is considered appropriate that a tutor can provide collective tuition to members of one family in the home at the same time. However consideration will be given to cases where eligible children in one family are of significantly varying ages, on a case-by-case basis.”
However, Ms Dunne said: “This is not a policy that was always there — this is a new policy.”
She said her three children each had 40 hours tuition in the past two Julys, and she was unsure if they would receive 120 hours this July.
She also said tutors would prefer to work in families where more hours were guaranteed and the policy meant families with more than one qualifying child were being “targeted”.
Ms Dunne said the comparison with a one to six ratio was “unfair” as some qualifying children were in mainstream schools.
The department said FAQs and terms and conditions relating to claims and payment procedures will be on its website once approval letters are issued.
