SECONDARY school students with special needs are getting so distressed at not having the resource supports they need that they are ending up in psychiatric units at risk of suicide.
Dóchas, the support organisation for families and children dealing with Autism has seen clients in despair because their children are losing their ability to cope when thrown into second-level education without the support of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in the classroom.
“What is happening at the moment is that the priority has switched to primary school and early intervention but many secondary school students are losing SNA’s,” said Dóchas spokeswoman, Eleanor McSherry.
“They are going into mainstream secondary school and we still don’t have a dedicated Autism unit attached to any Limerick secondary school. Add adolescence to the difficulties they already have and there’s trouble. Many become terribly anxious at not having the supports and some become suicidal.
“We know of children who have ended up in a psychiatric unit because they are deemed to be at risk of suicide and once that happens, that child is broken”.
Stressed students reach a point of “meltdown” and parents have little or no support once that happens, Ms McSherry said.
“It’s one thing when a four-year old has a meltdown, another entirely when it’s a 16-year old student. One child we know of started breaking the house up and when his mother rang a member of his care team, she was told to ring the Gárdai”.
The Dóchas spokeswoman said the children with Asperger’s Syndrome and other disorders on the Autism spectrum should never have to end up in psychiatric hospitals.
“They are only there because of the huge stress that not having the supports they need brings. And having them in the mental health system is costing far more than providing SNA’s”.
Autism groups, including Dóchas, have been campaigning for years to have special units established in mainstream secondary schools, as Limerick is the only county in the country without such a facility.
“We were promised by a previous Minister that we would get these units. It hasn’t happened. We were also told that Redhill, the dedicated Autism primary school, was to have a secondary facility and that hasn’t happened.
“Even if it did, the school would give priority to children who went to primary at Redhill, so it would be very difficult to accommodate any child who studied at another school,” said Ms McSherry.
The Dóchas spokeswoman was speaking to the Limerick Post on foot of an announcement by Education Minister, Jan O’Sullivan and the National Council for Special Education of information meetings for parents of children with special needs to inform them about educational supports.
Told of the situation with secondary school children, MInister O’Sullivan said that she is “very interested in hearing the views of families. We are currently having a review across the board of special needs supports and there will be a draft document up for consultation over the next year”.
“The system as it stands is very complicated for families so we are trying to move to a system which links the health services in with the schools”.
The minister urged parents to join the consultation process.
Parents who would like to comment or take part in one of the information sessions should contact their local SENOs to book a place and to find out about local dates and venues.
Contact details for SENOs are available on the NCSE website (www.ncse.ie) which is also where parents can make a contribution to the current consultation process.
