2-year wait for special needs test in schools

Delays ‘causing distress’

CHILDREN waiting to be assessed for special educational needs help have been kept waiting as long as two years, a Stormont committee heard yesterday.

Senior managers at the Education Authority admitted delays being faced by hundreds of children are “unacceptable” and have “caused distress”.

School kids are supposed to be “statemented” within 26 weeks, thereby paving the way for additional support to be provided to the children and staff.

But at one stage more than 1,000 young people had been waiting longer, with EA bosses today admitting some had gone “more than 100 weeks” without being assessed.

The figure is down to 676, however the authority was unable to give an estimate as to when it will be reduced to zero.

There are currently 22,000 children in Northern Ireland who are “statemented”. Asked yesterday how many children have been waiting longer than 100 weeks, the EA told the Mirror it was 20.

EA chief Sara Long told the committee the body’s “immediate priority” is to deal with children who have been waiting the longest.

However, she warned that to “address the backlog” in the immediate future they “will require additional funding”.

The SDLP’S Daniel Mccrossan used words like “chaotic” and “dysfunctional” in describing the EA, adding that “children have been failed” by the delays.

Speaking after the meeting, chair Chris Lyttle said: “The committee as a whole has been shocked and disheartened by what it regards as a culture of disorganisation and reactivity. Statutory timescales should always be adhered to.

“While we have been somewhat reassured the Education Authority has undertaken this audit and recognised its failings, we now want to see a comprehensive programme of transformation.”