Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy has called for a firm commitment that no child with special education needs will lose resource teaching hours as a result of the changes under the new allocation model for Resource Teaching Hours. Eugene Murphy made the call during his party’s motion on Assessments for Special Education Needs which came before the Dáil last week.
“We are all aware that there are major problems in the current allocation model for Resource Teaching Hours and it is an issue which many parents and indeed teachers throughout the Roscommon/Galway constituency have raised with me. I was contacted by a young teacher from Roscommon Town who pointed out that there is so much uncertainty around the new arrangements for the NCSE model for Special Education Needs in schools. Parents have been left in the dark and do not know if their children will have learning support and resource hours, teachers are unsure whether they will have jobs next September and principals and schools don’t know what their staff allocation will be next year,” said Deputy Murphy.
“To gain access to additional resource teaching a child must be assessed for learning difficulty by a psychiatrist, which can be done publicly by the National Educational Psychological Service or by a private consultant. It is generally only better-off parents that can afford a private diagnosis of learning difficulty for their child when they see a problem arise. The costs for private assessment can be upward of €1,000 – a fee that many parents simply cannot afford. By contrast, it often takes a year (and often much longer) for students to be publicly assessed for learning difficulties, by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).
“We have sought a firm commitment from Minister Bruton that no child will be deprived under new allocation system and we will not stand for any child with special education needs losing resource teaching hours as a result of the changes,” said Eugene Murphy.
The Fianna Fáil TD pointed out that a total of 132 children are currently waiting for an assessment with a child psychologist in County Roscommon with some children waiting over a year for an appointment.
“Figures which I recently obtained through a Parliamentary Question show that there has been a huge increase in the number of children on a waiting list to see a child psychologist in County Roscommon since 2015. There were a total of 58 children on the waiting list in 2015 and that figure rose to 126 for 2016 and to date in 2017 there are a total of 132 children on the waiting list which is a staggering increase of 127% since 2015- this is totally unacceptable and the situation seems to have deteriorated since last Summer when a child psychologist in County Roscommon was on sick leave and the post has been vacant since which means there are now a total of 132 children from County Roscommon on that waiting list and unable to access child psychology services.
“I am dealing with a case of a little boy from County Roscommon who was referred by his GP to the psychology service in Roscommon but after several weeks of phone calls, his parents finally received a return call informing them that the psychologist looking after school-aged children was on sick leave since March and that a locum would not be found for the post. Officials could not say when the service would become available again, but they indicated that no children had been assessed since March and that the waiting list would be significant.
“This family from County Roscommon are not asking for preferential treatment or to skip the queue; they just want to see their son have access to the services they contribute towards and are supposed to be available in the public health care system.
“The immediate appointment of this child psychology post is also necessary for the Syrian children who will be coming to Ballaghaderreen next week and they will undoubtedly have suffered untold trauma so it is vital that this post is in place as a matter of urgency.”
“We also know that the scale of the crisis facing the psychological services in schools is far worse than initially feared. My colleague Thomas Byrne has previously highlighted this and we know that there are almost 400 schools around the country that don’t have access to a psychologist service. In my own part of the country are five schools in County Leitrim, four in County Longford and two in County Galway that have no access to a psychologist service which is simply extraordinary when you consider the extreme stresses that many children undergo as they grow older,” concluded Eugene Murphy.
“We are all aware that there are major problems in the current allocation model for Resource Teaching Hours and it is an issue which many parents and indeed teachers throughout the Roscommon/Galway constituency have raised with me. I was contacted by a young teacher from Roscommon Town who pointed out that there is so much uncertainty around the new arrangements for the NCSE model for Special Education Needs in schools. Parents have been left in the dark and do not know if their children will have learning support and resource hours, teachers are unsure whether they will have jobs next September and principals and schools don’t know what their staff allocation will be next year,” said Deputy Murphy.
“To gain access to additional resource teaching a child must be assessed for learning difficulty by a psychiatrist, which can be done publicly by the National Educational Psychological Service or by a private consultant. It is generally only better-off parents that can afford a private diagnosis of learning difficulty for their child when they see a problem arise. The costs for private assessment can be upward of €1,000 – a fee that many parents simply cannot afford. By contrast, it often takes a year (and often much longer) for students to be publicly assessed for learning difficulties, by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).
“We have sought a firm commitment from Minister Bruton that no child will be deprived under new allocation system and we will not stand for any child with special education needs losing resource teaching hours as a result of the changes,” said Eugene Murphy.
The Fianna Fáil TD pointed out that a total of 132 children are currently waiting for an assessment with a child psychologist in County Roscommon with some children waiting over a year for an appointment.
“Figures which I recently obtained through a Parliamentary Question show that there has been a huge increase in the number of children on a waiting list to see a child psychologist in County Roscommon since 2015. There were a total of 58 children on the waiting list in 2015 and that figure rose to 126 for 2016 and to date in 2017 there are a total of 132 children on the waiting list which is a staggering increase of 127% since 2015- this is totally unacceptable and the situation seems to have deteriorated since last Summer when a child psychologist in County Roscommon was on sick leave and the post has been vacant since which means there are now a total of 132 children from County Roscommon on that waiting list and unable to access child psychology services.
“I am dealing with a case of a little boy from County Roscommon who was referred by his GP to the psychology service in Roscommon but after several weeks of phone calls, his parents finally received a return call informing them that the psychologist looking after school-aged children was on sick leave since March and that a locum would not be found for the post. Officials could not say when the service would become available again, but they indicated that no children had been assessed since March and that the waiting list would be significant.
“This family from County Roscommon are not asking for preferential treatment or to skip the queue; they just want to see their son have access to the services they contribute towards and are supposed to be available in the public health care system.
“The immediate appointment of this child psychology post is also necessary for the Syrian children who will be coming to Ballaghaderreen next week and they will undoubtedly have suffered untold trauma so it is vital that this post is in place as a matter of urgency.”
“We also know that the scale of the crisis facing the psychological services in schools is far worse than initially feared. My colleague Thomas Byrne has previously highlighted this and we know that there are almost 400 schools around the country that don’t have access to a psychologist service. In my own part of the country are five schools in County Leitrim, four in County Longford and two in County Galway that have no access to a psychologist service which is simply extraordinary when you consider the extreme stresses that many children undergo as they grow older,” concluded Eugene Murphy.