Siobhβn Arnold is devastated at the thought of going to court. She is filled with dread because she knows it will be tough, she knows it will be exhausting and she knows it will take a huge toll on her family.
She knows because she's been before. She spent most of 1998 in and out of the High Court, suing the Department of Education and the Department of Health. Those were the lengths to which she had to go simply to secure an appropriate primary education for her son.
Michael, now 10, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) - also known as high-functioning autism - when he was five. His mum knew he would not cope in an ordinary classroom because, although Asperger's children have an average or, frequently, an above-average IQ and a good vocabulary, they invariably experience considerable difficulty mixing with their peers, often finding themselves easy prey for bullies.
A class for autistic children would have been unsuitable since classic autism brings with it a low IQ and, therefore, a degree of intellectual challenge which Michael does not have. A class catering for a range of special needs was out of the question, too, since - in Arnold's own words - "if Michael had been in a class with kids with Attention Deficit Disorder or emotional/behavioural problems, he would likely have ended up being 'eaten alive'."
Arnold's hard-won victory in 1998 resulted in a class for AS children being set up in St Peter's National School, Walkinstown, Dublin. Now, with Michael settling into fourth class, his mum's thoughts are turning to his secondary education.
Looking around, she cannot find anywhere that comes near to meeting her son's needs and she is dreading the prospect of suing two Government departments yet again. "I feel devastated that I have to go back to court - it will be really wearing because I have three children and a job," she says. "As it is, I'm travelling 86 miles a day from my home in Leixlip to the school in Walkinstown, my husband works abroad 90 per cent of the time and I've had to go part-time. It's a nightmare.
"But I will go to court if I have to. The ruling in the Jamie Sinnott case has done nothing to help us, though - it has brought us back 20 years - and it is sick to think the Government contested it."
Arnold says she will keep Michael at home if suitable secondary education is not provided for him.
According to Arnold: "It turns out the court case in 1998 was only a partial victory, because all we got was a class in a mainstream school. There is no clinical support whatsoever and the children's needs are just not being met.
"I don't feel strong enough to go to court just for speech and occupational therapy, but I'm going to have to go to get secondary schooling and I've already written to my solicitor. If only the Government supported us, we could stop spending so much money on solicitors and barristers and, in the long run, it would save the Government money because it wouldn't have to find residential places for these children when they reach adulthood."
Arnold has worked in community psychiatric services for 16 years and has met many high-functioning autistic adults who, she believes, would not require psychiatric services to the same extent if they had received the necessary services earlier.
"When they reach adulthood, their self-esteem is so low that they get depressed, they get anxious and they get psychotic. It's such a shame because they all have such potential."
ASPIRE, a support group for parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome can be contacted on (01) 2951389.
