Parents ‘left in dark’ over Drumcar services cutbacks
PARENTS of children with special needs in St Mary’s, Drumcar, are appealing to the school management to restore some vital services to the school to halt the regression of their children’s condition.
Jena McHugh Bulman says she has contacted the Drogheda Independent out of sheer desperation, as she fears pleas to her daughter’s school are falling on deaf ears.
Jena’s 9-year-old child Niamh, who has Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy, has attended the school for children with special needs since 2013. According to her mum, as services like Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy are slashed, Niamh’s condition is deteriorating.
“Niamh is non-verbal and wheelchair bound, so these services are vital to her quality of life and well-being,’ says Jena, who lives in the Twenties, on the northside of the town.
“She has only had 10 speech therapy sessions in five years, which means there is very little progress, and they have been no help whatsoever in showing us what to do at home, so she might improve. In fact, with no occupational therapy either, you can see she has regressed since 2013.”
In a statement from St John of God’s, it is confirmed that services are in the process of being transferred to a National Disability Programme, and “pending the development of these teams in Louth, a small number of clinicians and therapists continue to provide services and supports to children and adults at Saint John of God North East Services.”
“This service is not in operation or available to our children and may not be for some time due to lack of funding and, this new disability programme is only in beginning stages and no managers nationwide have been appointed yet,” says another parent Fiona Sharkey Carroll, who think parents are being left in the dark about what is happening the services they’re expecting their children to receive.
“This leaves our children in St Mary’s School yet again forgotten.”
Fiona’s son Sean is 13 and non-verbal with complex needs, including been blind in his left eye, has dual diagnosis Down Syndrome and autism sensory needs and other health issues.
Jena says she is desperate to highlight what is happening before everything goes.
“They are still offering physiotherapy, but with the way services are being dropped, it could just be a matter of time,” says the worried mum, who also has two more young daughters.
“We don’t know why she doesn’t speak and we need expert help, so we are hoping they will pull their finger out and at least be more open with parents, so we know what to expect.”
Niamh is nonverbal and wheelchair bound, so these services are vital