Over the course of any given year we would get calls from parents of up to 60 disabled children telling us they have to remove their children from school because of a lack of adequate support services," says Finian McGrath of Parents for Integration.

Parents for Integration has a membership of 500 families. Its fundamental aim is to fight for the rights of all children with disabilities to access to local mainstream education. Time and again parents of children with disabilities refer wearily to the exhausting fight they have to put up to ensure their children are given the same educational opportunities as any other child - opportunities to which their children have a constitutional right.

"The Department of Education is denying our children their right to education, because they have simply failed to put an adequate service in place," says McGrath. "Parents constantly find themselves up against the wall trying to get the most basic things for their children. There are 10,000 children with disabilities in mainstream education and it is a terrible shame those children are not provided with adequate assistance."

McGrath's daughter, who has Down's Syndrome, attends the local national school. "She has settled in really well socially, she's very happy. The teachers are excellent, but the only support on offer is a teacher who comes in for two hours a week - and, believe or not, we're lucky: some schools have no assistance."

Siobhan Whitehead, who has a mildly autistic four-year-old son, is all too familiar with the zero-assistance scenario.

"Eoin started in our local national school last week, against all the odds," she says. "I have spent almost a year writing letters and fighting battles so my son can have access to an education. The principal was very reluctant to take him in at all - I was told that at the first bit of a problem I would have to come down and take him home. He was finally allowed in, but there is still no support teacher, specially trained, to meet Eoin's needs.

"His teacher is doing her best, but she isn't familiar with his condition. At the moment the children are just settling in and Eoin is adapting socially. But when they start doing academic work, Eoin will be totally lost without the sort of support he needs. "Frequently children with special needs who are neglected in this way by the Department end up with behavioural problems," this mother explains. "But children like Eoin who are given the assistance they need from an early age actually go on to do extremely well. In fact we have been told by the psychiatrist who originally diagnosed his condition that if his needs are met, there is no reason Eoin shouldn't go on to do very well at third level."

The issue of meeting the needs of children with disabilities from a young age is of particular concern to Dr Sinead O Nuallain, a consultant paediatrician with the Early Childhood Services run by the Brothers of Charity in Galway. "We work with children who have severe and profound disabilities here. In my experience, and in accordance with international research, if these children are given the sort of developmental opportunities they need from a very early age, their condition can improve. On the other hand, if they don't get that support, their condition does deteriorate. "Parents of children with disabilities are not sufficiently supported by the State. By the time they come to us, they are often completely worn out by the frustration of trying to find help.

The effect on family life is enormous. Their other children don't get the amount of attention they need, the parents feel guilty and very often end up quite depressed. If you don't provide the support needed early on you're really on a loser in so many ways."

Geraldine Graydon, the special-education delegate to the National Parents Council (Primary), knows this struggle well. "My son Andrew is luckier than most because about 80 per cent of his needs are met by the Departments of Health and Education - but I have had to fight every inch of the way. "It's just horrendous. It's exhausting and it takes its toll on everyone. But what are we fighting for is something which is theirs by right. Children with disabilities have a right to education the same as anyone else, and it is time that was genuinely recognised by the Department of Education."

According to O Nuallain, the educational neglect of children with special needs reflects a broader lack of tolerance and understanding. "Initially children with severe disabilities were excluded because it was felt education wasn't an option for them," she says. "But that was when education had a far more narrow definition. Yes, they need medical assistance, and physical assistance, but more importantly, they need the opportunity to develop to their full potential - the same as any other child.

"The issues that need to be addressed revolve around policy and funding," O Nuallain says. "There is an urgent need for a coherent policy on meeting the needs of children with disabilities, an urgent need for more co-operation between the Departments of Health and Education - and for adequate funding immediately."

Contacts

Parents for Integration, c/o Finian McGrath 342 Charlemont, Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9. Please send a stamped addressed envelope.

"Education: Their Right, Our Response", a conference on the needs of children with severe and profound intellectual and physical disability, takes place in the Ardilaun House Hotel, Galway, on October 21st and 22nd. Contact Margaret Burke, Woodlands Centre, Renmore, Galway (tel: (091) 755241).