Provision of education for students with special needs should be based on inclusion and communication between the child, parents and teachers at all times, a new report has recommended.
The National Disability Authority (NDA) study by Darren McCausland was unveiled yesterday by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin who said that policy on special needs in education should be drawn up on the basis of partnership.
She said she was confident the report would assist in the process of providing appropriate education for all children with special needs.
The report studied five countries - the US, UK, New Zealand, Queensland, Australia and British Columbia, Canada - where integration of special needs education has been very successful.
The report says parents and students should be included as much as possible.
NDA director Claire O'Connor said the report drew out the common threads in the five countries studied. The main idea was for a whole-team approach.
NDA chairman Angela Kerins said it was important to utilise international best practice.