No State funding yet for Galway school, court told

The State is funding schools for autistic children in Dublin and Cork which are based on the system of applied behaviour analysis (ABA), but has so far failed to fund a school in Galway based on the same method, it has emerged at the High Court.

All three schools were set up by parents of autistic children.

Ms Olive Healy, director of the CABAS school in Cork, said there was a high incidence of autism in Ireland - about one in 100 children - and there was no known cause for the condition. Children with autism processed information differently and did not learn in the traditional way. When taught on the basis of ABA, autistic children made great progress, she said.

Established in September 1999, her school was funded by the Department of Education and provided a 35-hour weekly programme for autistic children, 43 weeks a year. It had 30 pupils and a waiting list of 18. A CABAS school in Dublin was also funded by the Department of Education, she added.

Ms Healy said she had seen a proposal from parents to the Department which sought State funding for the Abalta school in Galway, which had six pupils and operated an ABA programme. She believed the proposal was appropriate.

After being shown a chart of services provided by the State for an autistic child, Colum McNabb (4), from 1999 to 2000, which included 60 hours of tuition and six hours of speech and language therapy, Ms Healy said the services provided were insufficient.

Asked would she be satisfied with a programme of 60 hours of tuition a year, she replied: "Absolutely not." She was giving evidence in the continuing action by Colum, suing through his mother, Ms Nichola McNabb, Cluain Aoibh, Moycullen, Co Galway, against the Department of Education and the State. It is claimed the education provided by the State for Colum to date was "woefully inadequate" and he is seeking that the State provide him with appropriate education.

The defendants deny that they have failed to provide appropriate education and plead that a place is available for Colum at the Fairlands school in Galway, operated by the Brothers of Charity, and that the programme offered there is appropriate. The school is not run on the basis of ABA.

Ms McNabb told the court that Colum made great progress since being taught according to the ABA programme, and her preference was that that should continue. The McNabbs contend their case is about establishing that the Abalta school is appropriate for Colum.

Ms Healy said it was her view that the teachers at Fairlands were not adequately qualified to teach children with autism. The case continues before Mr Justice Lavan.