It may not be safe for all... but bring back the children with special needs

CHILDREN with special needs are ‘in a spiral of disintegration’ due to ongoing school closures, hard- pressed parents have said.

The Government abandoned plans to reopen special needs schools next week following opposition from teacher unions.

Last night the Education Minister Norma Foley announced that home tuition would resume for children with special needs from Monday.

However, Inclusion Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland and AsIAm yesterday said families have been left ‘devastated’ by the school closures. It is estimated that around 18,000 children will be affected and parents lit up RTE’s Liveline yesterday to share their heartbreak.

Breda Fitzgerald’s nineyear- old twins both have autism, intellectual disabilities and are non-verbal. She said that she is heartbroken watching her son ‘disintegrate’ and losing basic skills over the last few weeks. She told Joe Duffy: ‘Over the last month, I have seen a little spiral of disintegration. It would break anyone’s heart to see the suffering that that child has gone through.

‘He has lost all his toileting skills. We went from a happy, self-contained, beautiful little boy to a distraught, distressed, beautiful little boy who was actually admitted to A&E this week and put on medication for anxiety.

‘It is mind-blowing to look at your kids disintegrate.’

Niamh O’Donoghue told listeners that her eight-yearold son with special needs ‘wails all day’ because he has ‘nowhere to go’. She explained: ‘He has really regressed. He is back in nappies now again. The nature of his disability, it is unsafe to bring him out on his own... they have a constitutional right to an education like every other child i n the country and they are just not getting it.’

An SNA told the Irish Daily Mail that she believes the Government is letting children with special needs down. She said: ‘We need to stay open. There are an awful lot of vulnerable children who need stability and routine. Children are going to regress when the schools are closed and the progress that has been made throughout the year will be lost.

‘We have had a very good cleaning and hygiene regime since we reopened and I would have felt perfectly safe going back. The Government should be giving us a chance until the mid-term break to see how things worked. If it wasn’t safe to bring in all of the children, they could have at least allowed the vulnerable and special education children to attend.’

Adam Harris, CEO of autism charity AsIAm, has called on the Government to allow some vulnerable children return to school from Monday, January 18.

The charity noted that 61% of autistic young people’s communication, social interaction, self-regulation and personal care skills were damaged when schools closed during the first lockdown last March.

AsIAm, Inclusion Ireland and Down Syndrome Ireland will meet the Education Minister on Monday afternoon. ‘We welcome the engagement with Minister Foley and it is certainly overdue,’ Mr Harris said.

‘ Stakeholders without lived experience of disability have discussed the needs of students with disabilities. I think that’s unacceptable.

‘Families are now facing into a new week with no sense of what support will come from the department. The issue has been lost in the bigger discussion around education but it is only right that the education system prioritises the most vulnerable.

‘We will be communicating very strongly to the minister, that the department and the stakeholders need to stop playing pass the parcel and the blame game.

‘They need to come up with a plan that will ensure our most vulnerable students are able to return to school as a matter of urgency, preferably from Monday January 18.

Barry Sheridan, CEO of Down Syndrome Ireland, said that families are worried about the potential regression and distress, while Barnardos, the Children’s Rights Alliance, the ISPCC and the National Parents’ Council Primary have called on the Government to develop an urgent plan to reopen schools from February 1.

They noted that they are extremely concerned about vulnerable children who rely on school for a safe and warm environment throughout the day. The Irish Daily Mail contacted the Department of Education for comment last night but none was forthcoming.

‘The issue has been lost’