The Department of Education has said that the State body in charge of providing supports for schoolchildren with special needs will "communicate" with parents at a Dublin school where severely disabled children are not receiving vital therapeutic supports.
A department spokesperson has told RTÉ News that the National Council for Special Education will "explain the model of provision" to parents, and will also liaise with St John of God Special School in Dublin's Islandbridge and with the Health Service Executive "to establish if improvements can be made to the existing provision".
Pupils at the school have been without speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and a range of other supports for several years now.
The children have conditions including Down syndrome and autism.
Many have a combination of a variety of conditions. Many are unable to talk and have difficulties with movement. Their therapeutic needs would be profound.
Some children born with severe disabilities have to get special teaching for things like learning to speak or eat without help. But that's not always available, as @emma_okelly has been finding out.... pic.twitter.com/NA1xVeuFJj
— RTÉ news2day (@news2dayRTE) March 28, 2019
They need therapies to help them develop basic skills in areas such as toileting, eating, speaking and communicating.
Parents have expressed concern that their children's futures are being irreparably damaged because they are not being supported to develop these skills.
Read more:
One year on, special school still without therapy support
After their case was highlighted by RTÉ News a year ago, the Department of Education promised measures to address the problem, but one year on, in reports broadcast yesterday, parents told RTÉ News that nothing had changed at the school, and their children continued without access to these therapeutic supports.
The Department of Education says the NCSE has been in contact with the school today.
RTÉ News has asked the NCSE to clarify whether or not children at the school are receiving any therapeutic supports though a special scheme that the school was included in last year in an attempt to address the problem.
It is yet to provide a response.
Yesterday, RTÉ News requested information from the St John of God charity which runs the school, but it has as yet received no response.
