The plight of a five-year-old local boy in need of a place in an Autism Unit has been raised in the Dáil by South Tipperary TD Seamus Healy. The child is the fifth and youngest in the Barrett family from Cahir and has received five rejection letters from various schools to date. The closest school to the family has two ASD Units but says the school cannot take any more students as all places are allocated – the family understands that the school believes there is unmet need for upwards of over a dozen other children.
The child’s mother, Tina Barrett, says the suggestion that they apply to schools outside the county is unacceptable and that her son deserves an education as do all children. The boy had shown an improvement in his verbal skills since starting play school and the parents are concerned that the child will regress if a place in an ASD unit is not made available.
The Tánaiste, Simon Harris responded to Deputy Healy in the Dáil and accepted that the Government needed to do better. The child had waited over two years for an assessment of need to be completed which the family eventually sourced privately – current legislation provides that such an assessment be completed within a six month period of being requested. Simon Harris says improving such services for children with a disability will be a Government priority in the time ahead and offered to have Minister Michael Moynihan, the Minister of State for Special Education contact the family and Deputy Healy to work on providing a place for next September.
