By CARL O’BRIEN, Social Affairs Correspondent | the Irish Times

PARENTS OF more than 30 autistic children at a special school say they are being deliberately excluded from talks involving the Department of Education over establishing applied behaviour analysis (ABA) schools on a permanent basis.

Barnacoyle Parents’ Group say their ABA school – based in St Catherine’s special school in Co Wicklow – is being targeted because of the public stance taken by parents in highlighting the need for specialised education in the area.

These parents include Cian and Yvonne Ó Cuanacháin, who took a recent high-profile High Court case against the State over their son’s right to an appropriate education.

ABA is a highly intensive form of education which can benefit children with autism.

However, the Government favours an “eclectic” approach, which is based on a range of educational approaches.

This weekend the department rejected the parents’ claims and said there was no such recognised school as “Barnacoyle ABA school” and, as a result, it did not form part of talks to establish 13 ABA pilot schools on a permanent basis.

A spokesman for Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said children at Barnacoyle were part of St Catherine’s Special School, a single school that caters for all pupils – including those with autism – which was never involved in the talks.

“The department therefore doesn’t understand how some of the parents apparently only became aware of this position earlier this year. The position has been since the talks began in late 2007,” a spokesman said.

Speaking yesterday, Ms Ó Cuanacháin said the real issue was that the department had been refusing to recognise an ABA school for the past eight years.

“The first application was made by St Catherine’s in 2001 and again in 2006 by the Barnacoyle parents’ group, in conjunction with St Catherine’s,” she said.

“The real question is why is Wicklow being excluded? We’re not looking for special treatment. We just want to be treated the same as other ABA schools, no more, no less.”

Talks over providing long-term funding for ABA schools have been taking place for about a year and a half between Irish Autism Action and officials from the department.

The Programme for Government, agreed by the coalition partners, committed to officially recognising 12 pilot centres providing education mainly through ABA. The figure being quoted by the department has risen to 13 in recent months.

In addition, there are in the region of 2,100 children with autism in the education system who are receiving additional teaching or special needs assistant support in mainstream schools.

ABA schools that are officially recognised will have access to funding for teachers and ABA tutors.

Those ABA schools outside the process, however, are faced with the prospect of fund-raising to try to pay for teachers’ salaries.

A spokesman for the Minister said agreement has been reached in the talks on the core conditions to enable the centres to be recognised as special schools for children with autism. Discussions are ongoing in relation to existing contractual arrangements, he added.

The Ó Cuanacháins lost the main plank of their son’s case against the State when the High Court ruled that educational provision for their son Seán was “adequate” and there was no obligation on the State to provide him with ABA.

The court also ruled that they were not entitled to costs – estimated at €5 million – in the case which was heard over the course of seven months. They have appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0518/1224246811408.html

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