A Tipperary family have spoken about their uphill battle to find a school place for their five-year-old son who has autism. Michael Barrett, from Cahir, is due to start primary school this September, but the family have received 13 rejection letters, leaving them feeling enormous stress.
The Barrett family have applied to primary schools all over Tipperary, including for schools almost an hour away, but the situation looks increasingly hopeless.
Michael’s mum, Tina, explained that because of Michael’s additional needs, he requires a place in an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) class. However, for every one place, there are around 20 other students applying, the mother of five says. Whilst the family started applying as early as last October, every ASD class they have sought a place for Michael in is full to capacity, as waiting lists mount up. At present, places are allocated based on radius; the closest applicants to the school will get a placement.
Speech is Michael’s main challenge, and he needs constant supervision. “He learns at a slower rate than other children which is why he would need learning supports, and why we would never put him into a mainstream class with 28 other children. He needs one to one support,” Tina told Gript.
“Our local primary school is a five minute walk from us, and is where my other four children attended school. We would love for Michael to go there and we applied for a place, but both of their ASD classes are completely full and will be for the next two years. A lot of principals have used the same term, that their hands are tied. The schools need more funding. They need the Department of Education to step up. It’s the same story every year, but with different families.”
“We’ve gone personally to every school to speak to the principal or someone in the school about a special class for Michael. We fill in the form and hand them his report, but spaces are so limited. There are only six places available per class, which is very small when you consider the amount of parents who are applying for the school placement. One principal, who was wonderful, offered us any supports he could give us. He said they would take Michael in a heartbeat – but that both of the ASD units in his school are full for the next three years.”
The desperate mother said: “We have applied for a place in schools all over Tipperary and every week, all we are getting is rejection letters. We honestly feel that Michael is being discriminated against because of his special needs – after all, if he didn’t have special needs, all we’d have to do is fill out the application form to enter primary school, and that would be it.”
“The Government does not understand that as a parent you’re trying to keep your child safe, but yet you’re expected to send them miles away to school as there’s nothing available locally. You’re expected to put your child onto a bus or onto a taxi with a complete stranger, and the child is expected to make an hour-long journey to school and an hour-long journey back. That’s an awful journey for any small child without special needs.”
“We’re not asking for the government to put Michael into a private school or anything like that. His basic needs are not being met by the Government.”
Michael’s case has been raised in Dáil Eireann by Independent Tipperary South TD, Séamus Healy and by Independent TD Mattie McGrath. Tina said that there were assurances that the Minister for Special Education would assist the Cahir family, but that so far, this hasn’t happened.
“Michael has been brought up in the Dáil three times now,” Tina said. “Simon Harris said that he would get the Minister for Special Education, Michael Moynihan TD, to link in with Seamus Healy TD and myself. That was back in February, but to date, I haven’t heard a word from Minister Michael Moynihan. I’ve emailed him and I’ve still gotten no response.
“It’s alright for Simon Harris to sit in the Dáil and say, ‘We’re going to do this, we’re going to do that.’ But there’s nothing behind it, there’s no action behind it,” the frustrated mother said.
‘WE’RE CRUSHED’
The family have been tireless in highlighting Michael’s situation, enlisting the help of local journalists, politicians, and others in the community. But so far, to no avail.
Tina says: “We have a petition going in Cahir for a school placement, and we’ve highlighted him as much as we possibly can. Our next step will be marching – but the government doesn’t even seem to listen to that. They think we’re going to go away.”
“I’ve been on Tipp FM, I’ve been on Tipp MidWest, and Michael’s been in loads of the local newspapers. Yet, we are still in the same position. It sounds unbelievable. We have five kids and we are trying to support them all, including my oldest who is in college, and another doing the Junior Cert. We feel we are being ignored. We’re crushed, we’re falling apart. I sleep on the couch now because I’m awake half of the night walking around the house. I’m not able to sleep – It’s a constant worry when he needs to go to school in September.”
Michael, who was the first baby born in Tipperary in 2020, has struggled to access supports needed for early intervention. When he turned 12 or 13 months old, his mother noticed signs of ASD, including seeing the little boy flapping his hands and walking on his tiptoes, and his speech “completely disappeared.”
“He had a few words, and then he completely stopped talking.”
Tina highlighted the concerns with her husband Paddy, and the couple got Michael placed on a waiting list for a diagnosis. However, even that was difficult, and the long wait forced the family to go private.
“In the end, we weren’t willing to wait any longer as we wanted Michael to enter play school. He wouldn’t have gotten any assistance in playschool if we didn’t have a report back, so we got the report. Like many other parents, we went private. We applied for services and playschools. One playschool accepted him but when they read his report they got back to say that no, they couldn’t meet his needs. We were so lucky because a fantastic new playschool opened here – Kids Preschool in Cahir – and we went down and spoke to the lady running it.
“She didn’t even need to look at Michael’s report, but she told us straight out not to worry, that he had his place there. They have been brilliant to him. Michael went into their playschool with two or three words and now he’s speaking in full sentences.”
The fun-loving little boy has enjoyed his two years in playschool, but as the year winds down, Tina is afraid Michael will be left at home in September. She says the little boy loves the company of children his own age, and fears that his speech will regress if he cannot get a place.
“We are terrified right now that, given that he has no placement for September, he’s going to regress. He’s going to stop speaking and that it will be detrimental for him personally. We haven’t been offered anything yet in regards to school placements or services, but we have to make plans if we can’t get a school place for him. If the government offers ten hours a week home tuition, what good is that to Michael? He needs to socialise with children his own age.”
“He’s a little fire cracker – he runs into the school every morning. He doesn’t even say goodbye. He’s in there like a shot greeting the staff, “Hello teacher, hello teacher” – he has three teachers and he loves them. We just can’t get over why he’s not getting a placement. Staff in the school have even put up their own posts about this. There has been a big campaign, but nothing seems to be happening.”
Tina says that autism “still seems to be a dirty word when it comes to services.”
She said: “In this country, you get absolutely nothing. Michael hasn’t even been offered speech therapy. It’s been raised again and again in the Dáil that kids with special needs are sitting on waiting lists for the last 18 months.”
“As a family, our mental health has suffered. When you’re not able to sleep or eat properly worrying about this and trying to find a place for Michael, you end up having to put your other kids on the back burner which is unfair to them.”
1 IN 20 CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH ASD
Figures from the Department of Education published this month pointed to a significant percentage increase in the number of Irish children being diagnosed with autism. The figures, reported by the Irish Times, evidenced a three-fold increase in diagnoses in less than a decade. The growing prevalence of the condition is placing strain on the education system with more authorities scrambling to find places for children with additional needs.
At the beginning of March, dozens of parents protested outside the Department, holding a sleep-out to draw attention to shortages of appropriate school places.
As reported by the Irish Times, official records show the department has moved from using an estimated autism prevalence rate of 1.5-1.6 per cent among schoolchildren several years ago to 5 per cent. One in twenty children are now diagnosed with autism, according to the figures.
The department has acknowledged that this means at least 400 new special classes and 200 new special school places will be required every year for the next three years to keep pace with demand.
Experts have attributed the rise in autism prevalence rates down to better awareness of the condition, as well as improved diagnosis and the widening of assessment boundaries for autism.
‘WE’VE BEEN LEFT IN LIMBO – BUT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FANTASTIC’
“We really feel the government isn’t listening to us. We are lost. We don’t understand why Michael is being shut out of education because of autism. It’s not a crime, he hasn’t done anything wrong – he’s just a five-year-old little boy,” Tina said.
‘While we’ve been left in limbo, people have been absolutely fantastic. I can’t tell you the amount of messages I’ve received from parents. The reality is that people don’t want to talk about this publicly, because it’s extremely hard to put your child and your story out there.
“But I know from the messages I’ve received that too many parents are in the same spot. We didn’t want to come forward ourselves, or put our child in the public domain, but we felt that we absolutely had no other choice. I hope it helps another parent come forward, and that it opens up the conversation. But we shouldn’t have to do this as parents. We shouldn’t have to fight for a school place.”
Tina said that the family is running out of options. They have been offered an extension so that Michael can stay there for another year, but Tina says that is not an option. The only other choice at present is to keep Michael at home, with tuition.
“Michael will be six years of age. The kids in playschool are four and five years of age. Michael needs to progress into primary school. Every day you get a rejection letter, I look at Michael and I think, “I’m so sorry, I’m failing you.’ That’s how you feel as a parent, but the Government thinks we’re going to go away.”
Her message to the government is this: “Answer our voices. We are the voice for our children, and the more of us that come forward, the harder it’s going to be to ignore families.”
The Department of Education has been contacted for comment along with Minister Michael Moynihan.