Holy Trinity Primary School in Enniskillen is to benefit from the establishment of an autism support unit, the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane has announced.
A Key Stage 1 Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Unit will be established at the school while a Key Stage 2 learning support centre will also be put in place to provide for children who require continuing support.
Commenting on the decision, Ms Ruane said the new units would enable children to access small group teaching and periods of individualised support, as well as enabling them to benefit from social and curricular integration with their mainstream peers.
"They offer parents another choice in the type of provision they feel is best suited to their child's need."
The proposals are part of an overall Western and Education Library Board strategy to provide support for autistic children, ranging from special school to mainstream with support. The units will provide support for children with a diagnosis of autism who cannot cope with a mainstream class situation on a full-time basis, but could benefit from being placed in an autism specific class attached to the mainstream class.
The Holy Trinity Principal, Fintan Murphy welcomed the news and he explained that the proposals to site the units at the school had been ongoing since last year.
"We are delighted that the Minister has gone ahead with the decision to approve the proposal', he said. "We believe that this facility will allow the school to further enhance the inclusive approach to education which already exists in the school. The facility will provide parents of children with autism and those with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) with another alternative educational option as well as onsite expertise which will benefit the school as a whole."
Mr Murphy said the Minister's decision had just been taken and, as yet the school did not have details of the timescale for the opening of the units.
"But', he suggested, " we would expect that the ASD unit will open in September 2008, with the MLD unit opening some time later. The decision regarding this will be taken following discussions which we hope to have with the Special Education Service of the Western Board in the coming weeks."
SDLP MLA Tommy Gallagher also welcomed the news.
"This is a small step towards providing crucial support for the increasing numbers of children with autism," he said. "It will provide badly needed assistance for those children who will be accepted into the new centre. I understand that children enrolled in other Primary Schools throughout Fermanagh and who have a special needs statement will be considered for the new centre when it opens.
"Of course, in an area like Fermanagh, even with the provision of free transport, having to cope with very long travelling times could well be an added difficulty for some autism sufferers. I hope the Education Board, in special circumstances, will be prepared to offer taxi services."
