Dublin People - Delayed special needs unit finally set to open

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Delayed special needs unit finally set to open

Thursday, 28 August 2008

AN END is finally in sight in the saga over a purpose built special needs unit which has been sitting idle in Dublin 15 for over 18 months.
Staff will now be recruited for the impressive unit at Castleknock Educate Together School on Beechpark Avenue following a long-drawn-out stalemate between the school and the HSE in relation to resources.
The school had argued that the unit required specialist staff such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and psychological staff before it could open.
The unit remained unopened as the HSE did not provide the funding for the services. But now an agreement has finally been reached and the unit is expected to open in October.
Luca Boucher Murphy is just of many autistic children who has waited patiently for his place in the specially designed unit.
His mother Gayle – who was worried that another September would pass by with no education for her son in sight - expressed relief that the saga seemed to be resolved.
“It was Luca’s constitutional right to go to school last year,” she told Northside People.
“I fought so much to create awareness of what was happening with the unit. It was ridiculous.”
Gayle said that she could see the potential in six-year-old Luca fading away with every day.
“He has regressed considerably over the year,” she explained.
“He can’t form sentences, he can only say words and only about seven times out of 10 he’ll say the right word,” she said.
A spokesperson for Educate Together confirmed that recruitment for the unit is now underway and blamed the HSE for the hold up.
“This delay is essentially because the HSE did not co-operate in relation to the units resources,” Paul Rowe told Northside People.
“The school did everything it could to get the unit opened but at the end of the day a hospital wouldn’t open without doctors, so how could this unit open without the proper resources? It was an absolute scandal.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Education revealed that a meeting recently took place between the school, the National Council for Special Education and Beechpark Services, which is funded by the HSE, to discuss the levels of resources needed so that the unit could open as soon as possible.
“The Department of Education and Science, understands that Beechpark Services have given a commitment that they will provide services to the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) unit and the school have said they will recommence interviews for staffing of the unit at the end of August,” the spokesperson told Northside People.
“It is hoped that following interviews the school will be in a position to open the unit in October.”

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