The Irish Autism Alliance (IAA), an umbrella group encompassing different autism groups from around the country, handed in a letter of protest to the Minister for Education today in support of Lucan Educate Together National School.
The multi-denominational school has 280 pupils of which 12 are autistic. At a press conference today the school’s principal, Mr Tom Conaty, said the grants available from the Department were totally inadequate and claimed there was a shortfall in therapists being employed.
Ms Jane Jackson, an executive member of the school’s board of management, said the current rate of therapy through grants for autistic children is 5 ½ hours per child per term inclusive of travel, written reports and classroom consultation.
The school wants funding for 20 hours of occupational therapy and 20 hour of speech and language therapy per week. The school estimates the costs at €79,000 per annum per service at current private rates but that if they were in a position to offer therapists contracts this figure would be significantly lowered.
Meanwhile, the IAA also called on the Minister to release the report of the Task Force on Autism. The report, currently available on the department’s website at http://www.gov.ie/educ/publications/autism.pdf is not yet considered officially published.
Mr Cormac Rennick, a spokesperson for the IAA, said "while not necessarily agreeing with all the recommendations laid out in the report, we still consider it the most comprehensive volume of work to be commissioned by the state to date on Autism and as such want it to be in the Public Domain."
