Meeting special needs? Five families tell their story.

RÓISÍN WOODS AND JESSICA (7):Róisín Woods's seven year-old daughter Jessica started attending the special needs class on a full-time basis in September.

"Jessica started off with 32 in her class. What chance did she have? She had speech problems from when she was about two years of age. I thought that was the extent of the problem, but then she was found to have dyspraxia. I thought dyspraxia was a verbal thing, but I've since learned that it affects her learning ability, her conceptual skills, her life skills, everything.

"She's so innocent. Although she's seven, she's much more like a four-year-old. Her teacher is just wonderful. She sends notes home every day to communicate with me. She has the time to let me know if anything has upset Jessica during the day, which is just so helpful. Jessica has behavioural problems and it's good to understand why she might be upset on a particular evening.

"She started in the special-needs class full-time this year and it's just fantastic. Her reading, her maths - she's so proud of her maths. She was two years in mainstream and she couldn't even write her name. She was getting individual attention in mainstream and teachers really did their best, but the half an hour a day she was getting wasn't enough

"She managed to say her name properly for the first time this week. You've no idea how much work her teacher put into getting her to say Jess-ic-a rather than just Jessa and she came out with it the other night. But she's seven and a half. Could you imagine the kids laughing at her in mainstream? 'Ha you can't say your name.' It's just unthinkable."

CATHY SHEVLIN AND NIALL (10)

Cathy Shevlin's son Niall has just turned 10. The family moved 30 miles so that Niall would be able to attend the school.

"Niall was born with congenital heart disease. He had to have three surgeries over three days as a baby and unfortunately he suffered a stroke as a result of that, which is where most of his problems stem from. He has a learning disability, sensory issues, behavioural problems, speech problems, lack of gross co-ordination skills, concentration problems - I could go on.

"He didn't talk until he was four, walking would have been slower. In a nutshell he was diagnosed with a mild general learning disability and a global developmental delay. All of these nice little phrases. I would classify Niall as being closer to the moderate range most definitely.

"Anything unfamiliar is unpleasant for him. I remember I brought him into Blanchardstown Shopping Centre once for a quick errand and he just screamed. It was terrible. Could you imagine that kind of behaviour in a class of 30-something? He wouldn't be able to cope - and neither would the teacher.
"They can call Niall's disability all the fancy names in the world, but it doesn't change the fact that he needs extra help. Some people don't like to acknowledge the fact that some children need this.
"Now he is expected, at 10 years of age, with the mentality of a four-year- old, to go into fourth class in a different school and to sit with 30-plus pupils because they want him to integrate with his peers. I'm sorry, but those children in fourth class are not Niall's peers. His peers are the children in his class now because they all relate to each other."

CHRISTINE DEVINE AND AARON (6)

"What would Aaron do in a mainstream class? The teacher would need to take him to the toilet every half hour or hour - how would she manage? He regularly takes temper tantrums and won't do his work. He walks around a classroom and won't sit down. I just don't know how a teacher with 25 other children would cope.

"He needs the life skills to get over those problems first before he can start his education. His teacher is doing a wonderful job with him. She knows him inside out, when to push him, when not to push him. He does a bit of work and then he's allowed to go outside for a walk so that it doesn't all get too much. He loves school, loves his friends.

"We knew by the age of about two that there was a problem. Aaron wasn't walking or talking. There was never a question of him going into mainstream school according to the psychologist who assessed him.

"Aaron has a developmental delay. He's neither here nor there. There is no box that we can tick on a form. Even if he was diagnosed as having a moderate learning disability he would be entitled to just three-and-a-half hours a week of special-needs provision in a mainstream class. I just can't imagine it.

"It's only simple little things, but seeing the progress is amazing. Even getting Aaron to sit at a table and look at his books was a big step. Now he's reading, but it's all down to the work that's being done with him.

"If he has to go into a mainstream class, there's nobody there to do that and his behaviour would be unmanageable. What about the teacher who would have to cope with that? What about the other children? What about all us at home? It just would make life so much more difficult for everybody."

DAMIEN BARRY AND ALANA (7)

Damien Barry's daughter Alana is seven years old. Because her disability is undefined, in a mainstream class she would not be entitled to any special-needs assistance.

"Alana was fairly sick when she was born. She was in hospital with pneumonia and a couple of different complaints for a couple of months. From that time doctors knew that something wasn't right but they weren't quite sure and she was going for tests. She has a very rare undiagnosed syndrome. She sees a geneticist every two years, but they have no prognosis for how she'll get on.
"She had no speech at all and she didn't walk until she was four so school was a big worry for us. Enable Ireland recommended her.

"Mainstream school was never really an option for Alana. She had too many problems, So a couple of experts sent letters stating their opinion that this child really couldn't be placed in a mainstream class so eventually she gained access. She can't speak and I was told there was nothing wrong.
"Enable Ireland organised a voice box for her which is a small computer that she uses - well, to play with really at the moment - but she also uses it for speech. She's been here two years now and it's amazing the progress she's made.

"We have to travel 20 miles to get here. There's no alternative, but Alana loves school. The teachers send notes home everyday which is so useful. If she's tired during a school day, we know to put her to bed a bit earlier. Everything is that bit easier as a result.

"Alanna's very quiet. She'll sit and do her work. She has great friends in the class. It's great."

HELEN AND FRANKIE McBRIDE AND CHLOE (7)

"We started Chloe off in mainstream school, but we soon noticed that she wasn't getting any homework coming home. The teacher basically thought that the homework would be too much for her because she couldn't cope with the classwork.

"She was getting one-to-one attention for two-and-a-half hours per week to help her with her reading. She wasn't doing maths like the other children, no number work, addition or subtraction, nothing.

"She started to develop behavioural problems in the playground. The school called us in and told us they weren't happy and put us in touch with this school here.

"Chloe was assessed and it turned out that she had a mild general learning disability.

"Since coming here she has come on in leaps and bounds. She's coming home with her reader, she's coming home with her maths. She's even writing. She has so much more confidence in herself.
"We have another daughter who went right through primary school and nothing like this was noticed. She was quiet, you'd go to parent-teacher meetings and you'd get comments like: 'Oh she's a lovely child, there's no bother with her', but they weren't telling us that she wasn't able to cope with the work in the class. So then when she moved on to secondary school, she wasn't able to cope with it and she ran away.

"She didn't want to tell us because she thought she'd be letting us down. That's when we heard about the secondary school here.

"She is much happier now and doing really well, but you can really see the difference between Chloe, who has had the early intervention and our elder daughter who missed out."