THE MINISTER’S plan to reduce waiting times for assessments of special needs does not detail how this will work and has not been properly discussed with teachers, a Limerick City TD has said.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan queried the matter with the Minister for Children during a Dáil debate on the matter.
Deputy Quinlivan said that “over 18,000 children are currently waiting on an assessment of need, and this figure is expected to increase to between 22,000 and 25,000 by the end of this year”.
“These are children whose lives are suspended, who are awaiting this assessment so that they can receive the necessary medical and educational support for their continued development.
“The State has a legal obligation to deliver an assessment of need within six months and yet, the average wait time for such an assessment is 27 months.”
Discussing the changes that will create an educational assessment pathway, Deputy Quinlivan commented: “My concern with the changes that you announced … are that it risks deepening the chaos that is already prevalent in special education and will place an additional administrative burden on educators.”
He said the creation of an educational assessment raises concerns, including with the teacher’s unions who weren’t consulted in advance of the announcement.
“It is not acceptable for this responsibility to be pushed on to educators without them even being consulted – deciding on necessary supports should remain the responsibility of qualified psychological and disability professionals.”