Yes, sadly all of the above is as it is. It’s worth noting that some of the precious ”funding” that went into special needs and autism during the boom was absorbed by the creation of a new raft of useless public servants called SENOs (or saynos as described by most parents). The purpose of these gems seems to be to block services for children in need and to prop up archaic educational practices just to tow the government line and hamper evidence based intervention practices. I do not know of any parents out there who have any good to say of SENOs and many worry when theres a mention of one getting involved where their child is in a school placement and has access to services. Our government has got so many things wrong.

A National Disgrace is exactly what this is. Getting the diagnosis is a walk in the park when compared to what comes next…accessing services and education is an absolute nightmare. Agree with Bill entirely regarding SENO’s another complete waste of public money and don’t get me started on Beechpark Services! What are these people doing with the money that is given to them to run their service??? A child’s right to an education is a fundamental basic human right….not in Ireland apparently ….It’s sickening.

Posted this on the IAA website first:

Thanks very much Dr Carey for outlining the absurdity of educational provision. To add my pennyworth – my son was assessed to be on the spectrum, and with IQ of 78 it was recommended he attends a mainstream school. Which means he is denied occupational therapy and speech and language therapy by Beechpark on the basis they provide services only for children in their special units. We got a letter last week stating clearly that if we want to avail of those services, we should take him out of his school and put him in one of the units they support. So, if a child is estimated (however erroneously) to have an IQ under 70, he/she is not allowed into a special unit. If, on the other hand, he/she is above 70 and thus able for mainstream, they are recommended to go into a special unit so they get services?! I assume the ideal situation will be when no children are enrolled into the units so they are closed down

I have a 10-year-old son with Asperger Syndrome, which was diagnosed in the UK, before we moved to Ireland. Over there, he received psychotherapy and occupational therapy, and we had the ongoing support of a multi-disciplinary team, led by a consultant psychiatrist at our local CAMHS. Now, after an 18-month wait for a CAMHS appointment here, we’re told he has no mental health issues, so they can’t help us. There is no access to OT, either through CAMHS or community-based. Beechpark was mentioned, but I’m certain it wouldn’t be appropriate for my son to be in a special school. The only useful thing to come out of our recent meeting with a CAMHS psychologist was the suggestion that we look into the Centre for Talented Youth.

My son’s school is doing what it can, and I have to say that his teacher is very good, but with the best will in the world, they have neither the expertise nor the funding to meet all his needs.