Children with additional educational needs will no longer need an assessment to access a special class or special school under reforms designed to cut years-long waiting lists for vulnerable children.
There are currently at least 18,000 people – the majority of them children – on a long waiting list for an assessment of need, and the State is consistently falling foul of a disability law that should ensure the professional assessment is done within six months. It is expected the waiting list for assessments of need will reach 22,000 by the end of this year.
Minister for Children Norma Foley on Tuesday announced that the Government will replace the existing assessment of need process with a new system. For the first time, assessments will only need to identify the additional needs of a child rather than a diagnosis of a disability. Ms Foley said the aim of the reforms is to make sure children access the support they need, and to reduce the amount of time therapists spend on assessments.
Currently, an assessment of need can take up to 30 hours and therapists have said they are spending one third of their time carrying on these rather than providing therapy to children. Ms Foley said clinicians “spoke about their moral dilemma in prioritising [assessment of need] reports over children on Children’s Disability Network Teams [CDNT] waiting lists.”
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“We need therapists to be therapists, and this reform is designed to achieve that,” she said.
The Department of Education will agree to a new process, “to remove the requirement for professional reports, such as Assessment of Need reports, from entry requirements for special schools and special classes,” Ms Foley’s department announced.
Ms Foley said it was her hope that the Department of Education would have the new system in place for the September 2027 academic year. This which would mean that by October 2026 parents would be aware they did not need a traditional assessment of needs in order to access a special class or a special school.
Many parents seek an assessment in order to access health or educational support for their children. Because of the long waiting lists, many parents choose to pay thousands of euro to a private psychologist to carry out an assessment rather than waiting for one through the HSE.
Ms Foley said that under a new law agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday, her department will set up 11 new teams, made up of over 40 experts including psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists, to speed up the assessment of need process.
However, the Minister was unable to confirm if the “targeted reforms” will mean the State will finally, during the lifetime of this Government, meet its legal requirement to carry out assessments within six months.
“It is absolutely our intention to reach that goal of six months as quickly as we possibly can. But this is a really complex matter,” Ms Foley said.
“I think we need to be honest with people and say, so we’re moving forward with legislation. Legislation can’t achieve it all. We need better types of practice.”
Ms Foley and Minister of State with Responsibility for Disability Emer Higgins made the announcement on Tuesday as teenage disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody began another protest outside Leinster House. Ms Darmody (15) will this week stage a 50-hour sleep-out protest outside the Dáil in opposition to the length of time it takes for children with additional needs to access an assessment.
Ms Foley said she wanted to “sincerely acknowledge the commitment and passion” of Ms Darmody.
“I want to reassure Cara and all families waiting for an assessment of need that the Government recognises and shares the concerns that they have raised.”
Ms Higgins, who became the super junior minister with responsibility for disability in a mini-reshuffle last month, said in the three weeks she has had her new job she has already met with many parents and families in the “difficult” position of waiting for an assessment of needs.
“At the heart of this is children, children with disabilities, who need access to therapies. And right now, children across Ireland are waiting months and often years for assessments of needs, and that is their statutory right to get that assessment of need. It’s wrong that they’re waiting that long, and it needs to change,” she said.
