Children with special needs should not be left behind as the schools re-open.
That’s the call from local TD Kathleen Funchion who says many families of pupils with special educational needs are still unclear about whether, or how, their Special Needs Assistant can continue to support them.
The Sinn Fein Deputy says parents of children with autism are worried their children will be distressed by teachers wearing masks and they are struggling to read social cues with teachers’ facial expressions covered saying “You know that can be quite off-putting and quite scary depending on the situation particularly for some children with autism so there’s loads of different things that have to be factored and the schools are only reopening and we need to give them a chance but it’s just really important that children like that should nto be left behind and that they really were kind of abandoned in March and there’s been plenty of time to get the resources in place, there’s a minister now for special education as well”.
Deputy Funchion adds that, particularly in times like these, students with special needs should automatically get the resources they need and now have to fight and beg for them.
