Parents consider leaving country after more than 30 schools reject autistic twins

Richelle Brook with her twins Ezra (green top) and Avery (blue top) at their home in Tallaght, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Earlier this week, Dublin mother Richelle Brook received yet another letter from a school to say her twin boys hadn’t secured a place in a class for September.

“That’s 32 schools I’ve applied to, now,” she said. “There’s only one I haven’t heard back from yet.” 

Like many parents around the country, Ms Brook feels like she’s banging her head against a brick wall time and time again in a constant battle for services and access to supports for her children with autism.

But so far futile attempts to secure a special class for her boys Avery and Ezra have taken a particular toll.

“It takes so much effort,” she said. “I’ve killed half a rainforest with the amount of paper it takes. Some forms are one page, some are online, and some are five or six pages long. They want all your reports, statements of diagnoses, National Council for Special Education.

I’m essentially giving a book to each school. And each time you get turned down. 

In the most recent rejection letter, she was told that one of the twins is 16th on the waiting list and the other is 44th. Although realistically the one in 16th won’t move up that list, even if he did it would mean one brother goes to one school and the other would be forced to go somewhere else.

She’s also applied to schools in Kildare and Wicklow, which is a considerable distance from her family’s home in Tallaght.

Although her older daughter is already enrolled in a school a short distance from their home, that didn’t guarantee her boys a place in the kind of class they would need.

“We were offered mainstream classes but that’s not suitable for them,” Ms Brook said. “They couldn’t cope in a mainstream school. In the pre-school class they’re in now, there are five in the class.” 

She and her husband have attended all sorts of courses and workshops to help support their children but not all of them have been suitable or helpful to their specific situation.

Richelle Brook with her twins Ezra and Avery. Their living room is essentially a sensory room with crash mats and a Swedish ladder to help support the children. Photo: Gareth Chaney

“If they wanted to teach parents how to do this, maybe things like occupational therapy skills or speech and language therapy courses would help,” she said. 

“Rather than this workshop or that workshop. But if you don’t engage, you get no help. Half the reason I’m getting help is that I’m doing every course put in front of me.” 

Living in a small council house, the boys’ needs have meant there’s not enough room for the rest of the family. She’s also requested to move to a larger home given the size of her family but so far hasn’t made progress there either.

Furthermore, their living room is essentially a sensory room with crash mats and a Swedish ladder to help support the children.

“We’ve had to take everything out of the boys’ room because they constantly tear it apart, wardrobes, the lot. They put themselves in danger. The boys are a flight risk because they know how to unlock the front door. That’s me not sleeping because I’m afraid of what could happen.

“There’s only so much you can do without sleep before the dark starts to creep in. I know others are in the same situation, but it can feel like it’s only you. 

Richelle Brook: 'I know others are in the same situation, but it can feel like it’s only you. It’s very isolating.' Photo: Gareth Chaney

'It’s very isolating. We’re lucky to have a WhatsApp group. It gives a bit of a break with other adults to talk to. Because you don’t really see anybody.” 

When she and her partner got married last year, it felt more like a day of attending to the children's needs than enjoying the wedding. Even the idea of a family holiday seems remote.

“My family wants to do a big holiday this year, and the hotel they’ve booked has an onsite water park,” she said. “But that’s no holiday for me. 

"The boys are flight risks who enjoy water but cannot swim or signal when they need help. They’ve no awareness of danger. We applied for an autism assistance dog but that was another no as it’s done on a lottery.”

Ms Brook feels like she’s tried everything to secure a place in a special school or a special class in a mainstream school for her boys, including letters to politicians and working with a solicitor.

She said: “At this stage, I don’t know what would light a fire under them. My solicitor in the past has had cases where he’s brought the HSE to court, the council, the department. I hope it doesn’t get that far.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

“Should we go protest? I don’t have the energy. And then who’d mind the kids, we can’t bring them with us. You’re going around like a zombie. It’s like you’re just crashing against the waves. 

"People I know are talking about going abroad for schools. If that’s what it takes, we’d be more than willing to. But then you’re moving away from your support network and the few people we have who can help.

“It just doesn’t seem there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”