All educational settings, both mainstream and special, should be resourced with the technology necessary to deliver an appropriate education to Deaf and hard of hearing children; this should include the acoustic treatment of classrooms and assistive technology.
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The NCSE records that 939 pupils were provided with assistive technology in the school year 2010-2011 (Special
Education Administrative System, NCSE, 2011) - with total cost estimated to be in the region of €2 million for the 2010-2011 school year. This gives an average cost of approximately €2,100 per pupil. This technology is already provided by the DES so does not represent additional expenditure.
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4.2.3
(a)
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General guidelines on the acoustic treatment of classrooms should be produced by the DES Building Unit, in consultation with the Visiting Teacher Service, and made available to schools.
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The guidelines would be produced internally by the DES Building Unit for circulation, at no additional cost to the State. Each school receives a minor works grant and should prioritise the acoustic treatment of classrooms from this grant.
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Children placed in special schools should be those with complex needs. In the future, special schools should be designated and resourced to serve pupils within the community who require special school placement rather than be limited to any specific category of disability.
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This recommendation is in accordance with previous policy advice submitted by the Council. No additional costs arise for Deaf and hard of hearing children as special schools either already exist or are planned as part of the school building programme. The number of pupils currently attending special schools is very low (152 pupils over three special schools for Deaf and hard of hearing children), with many of these pupils having complex special educational needs. It is not therefore envisaged that the number of pupils enrolling in mainstream classes will increase significantly as a result of this policy advice.
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Consideration should be given to the need to provide temporary specialist provision for Deaf and hard of hearing children in separate specialist settings; for example, this could be used to provide intensive tutoring in ISL.
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