Education for autistic children

A task force has been appointed by the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, "to examine models of education provision for children with autism".

It will begin work next month and report by Christmas. The task force will be chaired by Ms Sheelagh Drudy, Professor of Education at UCD.

It will review the range of educational provision for autistic children and the support services available. It will also assess the adequacy of those provisions/services for the special needs of such children and make recommendations "in order to ensure the delivery of an appropriate, effective and efficient education service to children with autism".

A preamble to its terms of reference said it would have "regard to the responsibility of the State to make adequate educational provision for all children with special needs, including children with autism". It would also address the distinctive educational needs of autistic children.

Dr Woods said he was anxious "to ensure that we make proper educational provision for children with autism and that we make real progress in mainstreaming autistic children".

For the first time children with special needs were entitled to an automatic response to their needs and he was already allocating significant resources for educational provision for children with autism, Dr Woods said.