Parents plead for a secondary school space for their ‘hard-working’ special-needs son
THE parents of a specialneeds child are pleading for him to be offered a secondary school space in the local area.
Bill and Martina Sheehan say educational inclusion is a fallacy and, in reality, families are forced to battle senseless bureaucracy resulting in the exclusion of the most vulnerable.
They warned that Government and Department of Education red-tape has now left their only son, Ryan (13), not wanting to return to school.
“He feels no one wants him at all in the future education system,” Bill said.
Worse still, the Cork father said it was heartbreaking to hear his only son admit he didn’t want to return to education because he must be “a very bad person” given the way his family had had to fight tooth-and-nail for the education resources he needs.
“We are not asking for anything special for Ryan
– we are simply asking for what the Government and the Constitution guarantees him, which is an education,” he said.
“Ryan has worked so hard in school and we know that an education is so important to his future.
“The Government even has a Minister for Inclusion. But what about my son? What about his right to an education?”
Ryan was formally diagnosed with mild autism at an early age.
However, he is a bright, happy and hard-working youngster who one psychologist described as “a polite boy who is eager to please” with his studies.
“Ryan has many strengths – he is always pleasant and well-behaved, has strong auditory and visual memory skills, a good vocabulary, a great sense of humour and is eager to socialise.”
Psychologists have advised that Ryan’s best education needs will be met within a special-class structure in a normal secondary school.
“There is such a class at Coláiste an Chraoibhín in Fermoy, which is just five minutes from our front door,” Bill said.
The family applied for Ryan, who turns 14 in April, to attend from next September but the school doesn’t have a classroom space available – though it has indicated Ryan would be welcome if it secured the additional teaching resources required.
However, the Sheehan family were shocked when they were advised by another education official that they should instead consider sending Ryan to a school more than 100km away.
“We were told instead to apply to a school in Waterford which is an hour and a half from our home because they might have a space available.
“That would mean Ryan spending three hours a day in a car despite everyone agreeing that autistic children should spend the minimum amount of time possible travelling to school for tiredness and concentration reasons,” Bill said.
Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) explained it ewaas “fully aware of the overall shortage of places in (special) classes in the post-primary sector in the area”.
‘He feels no one wants him at all in the education system’