The “saddest” aspect of the continued closure of special schools is the sense that the schools “don’t care” for the children attending them in the way parents had assumed, a mother says.
Eleanor Bermingham, a single mother of two autistic boys from Co Kildare, says the impasse is "causing a lot of negative feeling" towards schools and teachers.
She wonders why healthcare members of the Fórsa union are working with vulnerable people while those in the education sector are not.
“I don’t understand how the home support workers can still work, the respite staff can still work, adult special services can open, but children’s special education is not safe.”
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Her oldest son, Mikey (13), has severe autism, is non-verbal and his behaviour can be “very challenging”.
"Darragh (8) is more mildly autistic but he has huge anxiety. He is absolutely terrified of Mikey. When Mikey kicks off, he headbutts, bites, scratches, punches.
“In Mikey’s class there are six kids. Since Covid we have had them in pods of three. So there are three children and four staff to a room. I consider it very safe.
“It’s a really good school. Mikey loves his routine. They do exercises – life skills like toileting, learning to wait and how to greet people. Darragh loves school, seeing his teachers, his pals.”
In more normal times, the boys are home from school by 3.30pm, “tired and fulfilled”, and are in bed by 9.30pm.
Without school, however, Mikey is agitated. A side effect of his anti-psychotic medication is a constant desire for food.
“He just wants to eat all day and gets very aggressive when I won’t let him. His sleep pattern is completely out of whack because he is not a bit tired. I can’t take him out for a walk because he might sit down and refuse to walk, and I have to think about Darragh. We are literally in prison in the house all day.
“Mikey keeps bringing me his schoolbag and coat and I am trying to explain to him there is no school. He’s getting more fed-up, looking for food and getting aggressive. Darragh’s anxiety is through the roof. He just hides in his room.”
‘World collapsed’
When it was announced special needs schools would not be reopening as planned on January 21st, her “world just collapsed”.
“I am frankly exhausted now. I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. For Mikey and Darragh, it’s just dreadful to be so completely abandoned.
"I do think [Minister for Education] Norma Foley wants the schools back but it's the unions.
“The vitriol coming from some teachers and some SNAs, saying we parents think they’re expendable, is dreadful. We’re being made to feel guilty that we want our children to go back to school. It’s not that our children are more important than them, it’s that our children cannot cope without school. It’s not just school. It’s their life.
“It makes me feel very sad because I thought these people thought more of my child. I thought they understood what he needed. You can’t help but feel resentful.”
Asked about the anger felt by some parents, neither the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation nor Fórsa would comment.
However, Fórsa said in a statement: “Special needs assistants and others working in [special educational needs] provision are more aware than most of the urgent need to begin the resumption of services. It remains Fórsa’s belief that this can and should be done in ways that underpin the safety of students, staff and others during this awful pandemic.”
