The NCSE Annual Research Conference took place today which basically asked the question, is a fully inclusive school system right for Ireland? Teresa Griffin said before the conference: “We want Irish children with additional complex needs to have the best education outcomes from our schools. Children with additional needs can attend mainstream schools or special … Read more
There are many schools with special classes. Most of them are for children with Autism. These classes come with a large amount of administrative work and usually a principal will delegate this to the Deputy Principal, who, more often than not, will also have full-time teaching duties. My suggestion is that any school with any … Read more
Special Educational Needs in Irish schools are a total disaster so this idea isn’t going to fix it. However, it might be a decent step in the right direction. When a child requires OT or SLT support, they join a very long waiting list and when they get an appointment, it’s generally during school, and … Read more
Much like mainstream schools, there are a few different types of special schools that have different methodologies. Taking religion out of the argument (for once) I don’t understand why there are more than one type of special school model out there. Between Abacus, Scoil Sinéad, Saplings, The Red Door, to name a few, there is … Read more
When the Special Needs Assistant scheme was first introduced, there was a good deal of flexibility in what an SNA could do with a child. The recession came and arbitrary decisions were made to constrain what an SNA could and couldn’t do for the purposes of saving money rather than actually helping children with additional … Read more
Special classes for children with autism account for over 80% of special classes in mainstream schools. Their original intention was to be a stepping stone from a special class to a mainstream class for children on the milder end of the spectrum. This is why there are generally a maximum of 2 classes in any … Read more
If you’ve work in a primary school for over a decade, and you were asked what was the number one change in pupils since you began your career, it wouldn’t be a surprise if children’s mental health was top of the list. However, accessing services for mental health is almost impossible, leading to a deterioration … Read more
When it comes to Special Education in Ireland, we have a very interesting system, full of the right intentions but with a complete lack of investment. The government will trot out figures that there are over 1,000 special classes for pupils with specific special needs that are integrated into primary schools. At first glance, this … Read more
The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is probably one of the most paradoxical. It is completely undervalued and under-resourced by the Department of Education but it provides one of the most important services for schools lucky enough to be able to get a hold of them. The interesting thing is that NEPS, if it was … Read more
When one looks at the number of agencies involved in education, one has to ask why there are so many and what do they actually do. The NCSE is the National Council for Special Education. Back when they started in 2003, there was very little work done in the area of special needs in education. … Read more