Children with Special Needs facing uphill battle for resources – Crowe

Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe has claimed that parents with
children with special needs are facing an uphill struggle getting and
holding on to resources.as they move from primary to secondary
education.

Crowe said that the process should be seamless with trapdoors that
currently exist for students moving from one school to another removed
and that educational supports need to travel throughout the education
cycle with the child.

The government has promised additional funding in the budget, but
this will not benefit any of the children who have been informed of a
cut to their early learning entitlement in recent weeks.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“Parents with a child of school going age and with special needs face
an uphill battle to get resources for their child or children.

“The first barrier they confront is trying to get a school to take
their loved one and depending on the resources of the school, getting
supports for their child.

“Parents of children with special educational needs are literally worn
out by the demands of their loved one and should not have to go to
what seems like the ends of the earth to get support.

“The lack of continuity in support services from primary to
post-primary schools continues to impact negatively on children. It
should be seamless and the trapdoors that currently exist for a
student moving from one school to another need to be removed.

“Former and the current Minister for Education have promised reforms
but the gaps and the huge effort to keep educational supports
continue to be made difficult.

“Surely if a psychologist has said the child need supports and the
disability determines that they need supports, then  they should get
those supports.

“Why cant we have a  system that looks at the child and determines what
they actually need for supports during their time in the education
system and the supports stays with the child.

“Five years ago a free pre-school year was introduced, giving families
an entitlement of 15 hours early learning for each child prior to
their entry into primary school.

“This initiative has not been backed up by sufficient resources with
the most vulnerable cohort, children with special needs, not getting
the supports they require – whether it be in terms of access to
pre-school services, or insufficient services within the pre-school
setting.

“It is unacceptable that there are currently children with special
needs who are having their hours cut. These are families that have
fought tooth and nail to attain the supports their children need.

“The Government have promised additional funding in the upcoming
budget, but  currently parents  face an uphill battle to access and
hold onto the educational supports their children need for their
development.”