Dozens of parents of children with autism in Louth and Meath have attended a meeting in Drogheda to further their campaign for Department of Education funding for special teaching units in the region.
The children are currently taught at home, or are in mainstream schools, but according to Ms Jacinta Walsh, whose three-year-old son, Sam, has autism, they can suffer from the lack of specialised teaching.
Ms Walsh is a member of Abaile, which was established earlier this year in Drogheda and supports the use of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) educational programmes.
"A two-year study found that 47 per cent of pre-school children who had been diagnosed as autistic and were taught using the ABA or Applied Behaviour Analysis method were no longer diagnosed as autistic," she said. "I want my son to go to a special ABA unit, preferably attached to a local school, and our group, Abaile, wants to see units set up in Louth and Meath."
Ms Walsh is one of 18 parents who completed a course in ABA last April and she currently teaches Sam at home using the skills she learnt on the course.
There are eight ABA schools in other parts of the State and the Abaile group hopes that it will not have to take legal action to secure funding for one in Louth and Meath.
The Drogheda meeting was addressed by Cork campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott as well as by Dr Ken Kerr, a specialist in autism, and Mr Marc de Salvo, who helped to establish the Saplings ABA school near Kill, Co Kildare.
Ms Walsh says that there are currently 55 children in Louth who have been diagnosed with autism.
The North-Eastern Health Board says that in Meath there are 64 children who have been diagnosed with autism. "These children are in receipt of services from a dedicated multi-disciplinary team comprising a psychologist, two speech and language therapists, two occupational therapists and one social worker."
A spokesperson for the board said that the autism team was working in partnership with the educational services in supporting children in their appropriate educational placements.
There are five dedicated autism educational units in Co Meath. Four of the five classes are in mainstream schools in Navan and Trim while the other is in St Mary's Special School in Johnstown, Navan.
The team also provides a support service for a number of autistic children in classes in mainstream schools.
A further meeting of the parents is due to take place on September 24th.