Laois launchpad for national campaign for Autism units in secondary schools

Laois parents have launched a new campaign which they want to turn into a national fight to build capacity at secondary schools Laois and elsewhere for children with Autism.

The decision to set up an action group in Laois has come about after local parents met with the 12 Laois General Election campaign at a meeting in the run-up to polling day.

Aileen Donovan is one of the parents who helped to organise the meeting which has already led to the group to starting a social media campaign called 'Different not Less'.

She and other parents are campaigning to have more places created in Laois secondary school in units similar to the primary school system. 

"The aim is to bring people together and start sharing their stories. My hope is that by bringing awareness to the issue so that the politicians can't ignore us because there are huge problems," she told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.  

Ms Donovan, who is the mother of a boy with Autism, outlined the message given to Laois politicians at the public meeting in the Portlaoise Parish Centre.

"The general consensus is that a lot of units are up and running in primary school but there has been very little forward planning for what happens to children when the reach 13," she said.

Ms Donovan said children with Autism are ending up in mainstream classes in secondary schools after being educated in ASD units right through primary school after being diagnosed with Autism.

"Parents are taking mainstream places (for their children) simply because they feel they have no option. If they don't take it they have nowhere else to go," she said.

She described this as a 'hope for the best' scenario faced by children and parents.

The politicians were also told of children being bussed to secondary schools a long distance from their homes due to the shortage of capacity. She said Laois familes are being advised to go to Kildare and Tipperary. 

Ms Donovan spoke about her own situation with her son who is aged 13. She has been told that he would not cope in secondary school and needs to attend a special school at a second level but can't source a place.

"I don't know where to turn," she said.

Ms Donovan said parents are faced with a huge amount of stress when it comes to finding a place for their children in secondary schools. She said 20 parents in Laois were directly impacted this year by insufficient Laois secondary school places at present but more children will suffer if the problem is not addressed.

She said some schools in Laois have a maximum capacity for three children with Autism from first to sixth year classes. Ms Donovan believes the system should instead have units for each year of the cycle.

"I would like to hope that we would start a national movement. Initially, we are starting in Laois but if there are 20 families in Laois that is replicated all over the country with more in counties with bigger populations like Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick," she said.

Ms Donovan believes that pressure will be created on politicians to act nationally if other families from other counties join in.

She adds that the General Election has given the impetus to parents to organise and get a campaign going. 

She thanked all the politicians for attending the meeting in Portlaoise on Wednesday, November 20.