Outrage as local autism unit remains idle

When the new permanent Castleknock Educate Together School was officially launched last November, there was universal approval of the inclusion of a special unit for the education of children with autism.

The unit consists of space for two classes of six children, a playground, shower facilities and special rooms for therapists and was seen to be a godsend to many of the families in the area who are struggling to cope with the education of their autistic children.

The rationale behind the unit was that children with autism could get the special attention and services they require, while at the same time being fully integrated into the national school environment. The Department of Education and Science has received great praise for stating that their preferred approach is for children with autism to receive the appropriate education through the primary and post-primary school network.

However in the recent Dáíl debate on autism, local Labour Party TD, Joan Burton highlighted the fact that the unit was still lying idle, apparently due to a wrangle between the Department and the HSE over the resourcing of the unit.

“It really is quite scandalous that the specially designed wing for children with autism in the Castleknock Educate Together School is still lying idle and locked almost a year and a half after it was built,” she said. “The reason for the failure to open the school lies fairly and squarely at the door of the Minister for Education and the Minister for Health and the failure of the two departments to coordinate properly their approach to the education of children with autism.

“In this case, the school and the school community are ready to offer a very good service for parents opting to go to the school, provided they get the support of the HSE, and particularly, the services of Beechpark. So far this has not been forthcoming despite many attempts to have various parties engage and sort out the issue. It appears that disputes between the Department of Education and the HSE over financial contributions to resourcing and staffing the centre are at the heart of the failure to open this facility,” she said.

The practical effects of the inter-departmental wrangling are traumatic for those on the coalface. Luca Murphy-Boucher from Luttrellstown is six years old and was accepted into Castleknock ETNS in 2006. However, because he suffers from autism which she believes was brought on by the MMR vaccine, his sole education comes in the form of a home education grant, which is not remotely giving him the education he is entitled to, according to his mother Gayle.

“There are schools all around the place that don’t cater for the autistic child,” she said. “However, here we have a school on our doorstep that has both the facility and the will to provide the autistic child with the education he needs and they are being denied the resources.

“In my own experience, the HSE has been an absolute nightmare to deal with. They suggested I drive him two hours to a pre-school place in Donnycarney. Obviously they haven’t the faintest idea of what it means to have a six year old autistic boy. Their next suggestion was that I put him on a bus with an escort!

“Mary Hanafin should take a long hard look at some of the statements that she has made about all children now receiving the education they are entitled to. I am absolutely outraged by it. Luca has already wasted two years on home tuition. I am watching his potential slipping away with every passing week. His behaviour is getting worse because he is not receiving the professional attention that he is constitutionally entitled to.

“He has had absolutely no speech therapy in the two years since he was diagnosed. What kind of society treats a six year old like this?

“Every other child can go to school at four years old. However autistic children are being discriminated against merely because of their disability. Who is Mary Hanafin to tell me that my child cannot go to school in Dublin 15? We pay taxes, we do everything by the book, yet we are the ones trodden on by the state and made to pick up the pieces. It is appalling. It is more than that, it is obscene” she said.

Educate Together are equally as frustrated by the lack of urgency on the part of the Government to get the unit in Beechpark up and running. “"The delay in the opening of this unit is indicative of the problems that many national schools have encountered when agreeing to such programmes,” said a spokesperson.

“The Educate Together philosophy is very supportive of the inclusion of children of special needs. However, when we have opened autism units we have faced huge difficulties in accessing the necessary state services to run them. In the case of the Castleknock unit, the school is still waiting for the health authorities to provide the specialist staff needed to run it.

“This has left a high quality purpose built-unit unnecessarily idle. This is a serious disservice to the children and families needing the unit. We have the greatest of sympathy for them and hope that the Department of Education and Science and the health authorities work together to ensure the unit opens as soon as possible,” he said.

In response to a direct Dáil question by Joan Burton last November as to when the unit in Castleknock ETNS would be opening, Deputy Brendan Smith TD, replying on behalf of Minister Hanafin, said – “Additional supports available from the department for special classes for pupils with autism include start-up and enhanced capitation grants and the school authorities in question have been advised accordingly.

“In addition, extra training support for staff engaged in education provision for children with autism can be accessed through the special education support service. This service will, as appropriate, consolidate, co-ordinate, develop and deliver a range of professional development initiatives and support structures to the relevant staff.”

And while the Government vacillates and fudges, the parents of Luca, and children like him, must suffer the consequences.

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