Special schools still waiting for promised therapies

Five special schools that were promised in-school occupational and speech and language therapies for pupils are still waiting for the supports to be introduced, more than three months after they were announced.

The schools are among six chosen for the first phase of a 'pilot' programme to return therapies to schools after they were removed a number of years ago.

A sixth school has received supports, but they fall short of what the school expected.

The second phase of the new "in-school therapies" programme was announced two weeks ago, with ten additional schools named for inclusion, but the organisation representing boards of management of special schools has said it is "perplexed" as to how the scheme can move forward with more schools when five of the first six have yet to receive any therapies.

The new plan was announced last August and schools were told occupational and speech and language therapists would be based in the schools and that the new supports would be in addition to existing services provided through local Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs).

The new roles were to be rolled out between September and December.

The principal of Our Lady of Good Counsel Special School in Cork told RTÉ News that their provision so far has been "zero".

"No clinician has come into the school as yet," Aisling Power said.

Ms Power said she was promised recently that therapists would be in place for the school in January and she said: "I am hopeful".

Parents at Carrigaline Special School also in Cork said no therapeutic support has been provided there as yet either.

"It’s really urgent and it’s getting more urgent the longer our children go without," Carrigaline parent Niamh O’Grady said.

The HSE has blamed recruitment problems for the delay.

It has said that nine staff have either agreed a start date or are going through the final recruitment checks which take place before the formal offer of a post.

"Recruitment is actively continuing for other posts, including interviews as recently as this week," a spokesperson said.

St Michael’s House Special School in Dublin has been told that a speech and language therapist has been recruited and the service will begin in December.

The principal of St Paul’s Special School in Cork said it has received "nothing" so far under the plan.

"I was told verbally that it would be December, but I will believe it when I see it," said Anne Hartnett.

Artie

Niamh O’Grady’s son Artie is 16 and a pupil at Carrigaline Special School. He is autistic, has an intellectual disability and is verbally limited.

"He needs OT and behaviour therapy, and speech and language therapy so that he can find more verbal ways of expressing his frustration rather than physical ways," she said.

She describes how her "very affectionate, loving and funny boy" gets very disregulated because he cannot find ways to communicate.

"It can be very difficult for the people around him, but it is most difficult for him.

"He so wants to be good and he is devastated if he feels he hasn’t been. If his behaviour spirals he can’t control it but then he blames himself."

Niamh said she is "disappointed and angry" that the promises made in August have yet to be met.

Darren

At a fourth school in Cork, Rochestown Community Special School, parents there too are still waiting for the therapies they have been promised.

The school told them last last week that there will not be anything until January.

Seven-year-old Darren Lenihan is a pupil there.

Like Artie he too is autistic and has a moderate learning disability.

"Darren has very low fine motor skills. He can’t pick up a pencil basically," his mother Claire said.

It may seem like such a simple thing but the impact on his life if this isn't addressed will be huge, she says.

"It doesn't matter how great his teacher or his SNA is, he can't learn to write until he can learn to pick up a pencil and if he can’t learn his letters then he can't read.

"I am so upset for him. Darren could go through the rest of his life never being able to sign his name, to order a takeaway, send a Christmas card or use the internet."

Just one school out of the six has begun receiving therapies but so far they are falling far short of what the school had expected.

Around three weeks ago An Cosán Special School in Dublin began receiving the services of an occupational therapist and a speech and language therapist for a combined total of one-and-a-half days per week.

However, this is a desk-based service only. The therapists are there to advise teachers at the school but they are not working directly with children.

When the scheme was announced in August it promised therapists would be involved in "a range of tasks in the special schools which will include delivering information-sharing workshops with staff and families...advising on adapting the environment, supporting teacher-led programmes focussed on children with specific needs or, where clinically indicated, providing therapeutic intervention and programmes with groups or individual children."

"It is a real positive that there is some effort being made to restore in-school therapies," said Eileen O’Rourke of the National Association of Boards of Management of Special Schools (NABMSS).

"But I am perplexed as to how we can move forward with another ten schools when these schools have yet to receive therapies."

The Department of Children has told RTÉ News that efforts to supply therapies to two Cork schools "were impacted by [trade union] Fórsa’s non agreement to redeployment of current CDNT staff to the pilot."

In a statement it said: "The HSE advises that it continues to engage with the staff representative body in relation to resolving outstanding matters on in-school therapy supports and are pursuing all measures to bridge the gaps that currently exist between intended levels of service and what is being delivered."

Fórsa, which represents therapists, said its members had "very clear and legitimate concerns about taking staff from already depleted Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) to staff a pilot."

Saying it could not stand over the redeployment, the union said: "Poor planning and poor resource management is the real problem."

There are concerns among the schools that where therapists are being appointed to the new scheme, they are coming out of local CDNT teams and that this will simply give rise to further gaps on those teams - many of which already have significant vacancies.

One school principal described this as "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

The Department of Children said the HSE was also "assessing the availability of capacity in the private sector to provide therapists while recruitment is ongoing".

No fewer than four ministers were involved in the August announcement of this new plan.

Ministers Roderic O'Gorman, Anne Rabbitte, Norma Foley and Hildegard Naughton all welcomed it, with Minister of State with responsibility for Disability Rabbitte saying: "It’s great to see today’s announcement come to fruition".

However, parents, schools and others involved in this first phase say "fruition" is still a long way off.