This document discusses special education supports for children in Ireland. It outlines that all children are entitled to inclusion in mainstream schools since 1998. Schools receive resource hours and special needs assistants to provide individualized education plans and intervention programs to students diagnosed with needs. The interventions can include withdrawal programs, in-class support, or a combination. Specific programs aimed at motor skills, speech, math, and information technology skills are discussed. The document emphasizes that parents and schools working together can help children get the supports they need.

1. Special education and
your child
Catriona Monaghan
St. Mary’s and St. Gerard’s National School
2011

2. Outline
• Inclusion
• Diagnosis
• Supports
• Intervention
• How you can help your child

3. Inclusion
• Special schools
• Automatic entitlement 1998
• Legislation EPSEN 2004

4. Diagnosis
• Ideal world
• Spectrum
• Limited resources
• The system
• Additional supports for the school
• Who benefits?

5. School support/ resources
• Resource hours (LITHs) + SNAs
• Individual Education Plan (IEP)
• General allocation (GA)
• Current position:
GA = 1 FT teacher + 15 hours
LITHs = 19 hours + 1 SNA
• Recession? -10% of LITHs
• Team

6. Intervention
• Withdrawal pros + cons
• In-class pros + cons
• Combination
• DES : Literacy + Maths; LSG 10%ile
• Special programmes

7. Special programmes
• Daily gross motor exercise programme
• Primary movement
• Speech and language groups
• Mathletics
• IT and keyboard skills

8. Exercise programme
• Why?
• What? Brain gym fitness coordination
• Purpose
• Who?
• Your child?

9. Research
• Significant relationship between academic achievement +
physical fitness
• Link between control of movement + reading difficulty
• Motor learning difficulties present in large % of young people
with emotional + behavioural difficulties
• Over 40% of Irish children undertake less physical activity than
is desirable and 20% are critically inactive
• Gross motor development precedes fine motor
• Main areas are balance, locomotion + manipulation

10. Primary Movement
• Why?
• What?
PMs = Movement patterns which emerge during foetal life
As the central nervous system develops, they are switched off
Persistence of primary reflexes after 12 months interferes with
development and can effect learning
• Purpose?
• Who? Jun Inf, Sen Inf, 1st
and 4th

11. Speech and language group
• Why?
• What?
• Who?
• Your child?

12. Mathletics
• Why?
• What?
• Who?
• Your child?

13. IT and keyboard skills
• Why?
• What?
• Who?
• Your child?

14. Summary
• Outline
• Inclusion benefits all
• Challenges stimulate new learning
• Parents
• School

15. Handouts
Questions