A MOTHER had to educate her 14 year old autistic son at home as the Department of Education not provided any educational facilities for him, the High Court was told yesterday. The Department had also failed to provide any help.
The woman was given leave to seek a judicial review seeking an order that the Department provide the child with primary or secondary education. She is also seeking declarations that the Department had failed to provide education facilities suitable for his needs and deprived him of his constitutional rights.
Mr Paul Sreenan SC, for the mother, said a disabled child had a right to education. The mother of this child had largely had to educate him herself to date. There had been many promises from the Department but they had not yet been fulfilled.
At present, the child was being educated at home. He said that Mr Justice O'Hanlon, in a judgment, had held that a disabled child had the right to education and the State was obliged to vindicate and respect that right.
Mr Sreenan said the boy was born in August 1981 and at the age of 41/2 was diagnosed as suffering from a form of autism. He was in the low average intellectual category of autism.
It was first recommended that he go to Montessori school but there was none in Co Clare where the family lived. In 1986 they went to a Montessori school in Limerick but he regressed. He then attended a primary school but disimproved as it was totally unsuitable. He was the subject of bullying and was psychologically damaged.
In 1988 he was removed. A Department official said she could not help and there was no attempt to find him another place. He was taught at home and was placed in another school for five weeks but it was not able to cater for the needs of an autistic child.
He was put into another school in Limerick and, after two years, deteriorated. He was continually bullied and in September 1990 his mother was obliged to remove him as he had regressed severely.
For a year from November 1990 his mother educated him. She received no assistance, financial or otherwise, from the State. In November 1991 he was provided with a home tutor who was to have come for five hours a week. The teacher's attendance was erratic and the tutor was not qualified to cater for the needs of an autistic child.
He was sent to a special school for mild learning disabilities but it did not cater for autistic children and he suffered emotional damage. He was removed and from August 1994 to date, his education resumed at home. His mother teaches him for four hours a day.
Mr Sreenan said the mother had made numerous representations to the Department but nob facilities even remotely suitable had been provided. There was no input whatsoever from the Department and the child stayed at home. The Department had provided no books and no materials.