Four special schools in Kilkenny and one in Carlow have been selected in the initial roll-out of new Education Therapy Services (ETS) which will be delivered by the National Council for Special Education.
The service will embed therapy supports directly in schools for children with special educational needs, which was committed to by the coalition under the Programme for Government.
The announcement was made today by Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton (FG) and Minister for Special Education and Inclusion Michael Moynihan (FF).
The schools included from our locality are:
- School of the Holy Spirit Special School
- St Patrick’s Special School
- Jonah Special School, Slieverue
- Saplings Special School, Goresbridge and
- Saplings Carlow Special School
The ETS represents “a major cross-departmental commitment…to strengthen supports for children with special educational needs by embedding therapy services directly within schools”.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Catherine Callaghan (FG), a former Special Needs Assistant (SNA) said she was delighted that the ETS roll-out had commenced.
“The commitment made in the Programme for Government was to ensure that therapists were available to provide therapies in situ in special schools,” she stated.
“What must be stressed, though, is my hope that the therapists who will now be operating in special schools through the ETS, will be in addition to services that are already available and are being provided by the schools. That’s the key piece here…and that is something that I’ll be talking to the Department of Education about.”
Acknowledging that the Government has “an awful lot of work to do” in relation to disability services, Deputy Callaghan said that this is an area which she will remain wholly committed to.
“This is a good day, but we now need to ensure that what has been announced today represents additional services for each of the schools named in this roll-out.”
