The long-awaited restoration of in-school therapy supports for thousands of vulnerable children attending special schools is set to begin in September, according to Government sources.
Many vital therapeutic supports – such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapy – were removed from the State’s 130 special schools when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of schools in 2020.
While there have been plans to restore the services, many special schools say children are still unable to access vital supports.
Under what Government sources are calling a new pilot project, therapists will be based in 16 special schools for the full school day.
The pilot, beginning in September, will take place across special schools in Cork and Dublin, accounting for more than 10 per cent of such schools in the State.
The programme will be supported by the HSE’s Children’s Disability Network Team and National Council for Special Education (NCSE).
Government sources say Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton hopes the pilot will be extended across all special schools and later to special classes in mainstream schools.
Ms Naughton previously said that in-school therapy is the top demand from parents and the wider school community.
Latest evidence points to better learning outcomes for children and young people where therapy is provided in the school environment as well as a reduction in their reliance on additional education supports in the classroom.
Meanwhile, latest figures show thousands of children with disabilities have been waiting more than 12 months for initial contact with a specialist team, as HSE services struggle with huge staff shortages and rising demand.
Many of these children are waiting for applications for the assessment of need, which is used to identify whether a person has a disability and what their needs are, an essential first step.
Up to 2021, the HSE succeeded in reducing the assessment of need backlog by limiting preliminary assessment to 90 minutes. However, delays soared again after this truncated approach was struck down by the High Court.
The HSE said the court ruling has had a “significant impact” on operations and has resulted in longer waiting lists.
It said a requirement for services to prioritise the statutory assessment of need process will also impact significantly on their capacity to provide necessary intervention/treatment for children with disabilities.
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