http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=694071&issue_id=6926

 

Parents win €215,000 to keep autistic school open

 

THE State has agreed to pay more than €215,000 to ensure that a school set up by parents in a backgarden for four autistic children survives until next July.

Colm Fulham, from Clontarf, Dublin, who remortgaged his family home to build a school for his son and three other children, said the parents regretted having to take legal action to secure appropriate education for their children.

The case follows a settlement made last week to a father who built a special classroom so his daughter could receive the intensive education necessary for autistic children, and a number of similar cases are pending in the courts.

Education campaigner Kathy Sinnott welcomed the victory, but said it was disgraceful parents had to set up schools, and then go to court for funding.

The High Court proceedings were taken on behalf of Oisin Fulham (7), of Hollybrook Grove, Clontarf; Alex Dunne (7), of Aulden Grange, Santry, Dublin; Aidan Murphy (7), of Southern Cross, Inchicore, Dublin and Megan Walsh (6), of Moyglare Abbey, Maynooth, Co Kildare.

Together with other parents, Mr Fulham built the Irish Children Autism Network for Development Opportunities (ICANDO) school in the back yard of his Clontarf home.

The parents had found it stressful to establish and run a school, and to do what was effectively the State's job, the court heard.

The school opened in 1999 and the children were educated according to the system of Applied Behaviour Analysis, with a one-to-one pupil-teacher ratio.

They had made enormous advances. One child had moved full-time to mainstream schooling, while the other three now went part-time to regular schools.

The parents took legal action aimed at securing state funding for the school. In late 2000, the State agreed to provide interim funding for the school of £1,300 weekly pending the outcome of the legal action.

Dr Michael Forde, for the children, said they had suffered from very severe autism and no provision had been made for such children by the State up to about three years ago.

Without their parents' endeavours, these children would have been in a much more backward position.

Dr Forde said it was hoped the other three children would go to mainstream schools next year.

A senior department official would meet the parents in March to address the children's future educational needs. If adequate provision could be made, the ICANDO school would close down.

Mr Justice Kearns approved the payment as part of a settlement which included speech and occupational therapy expenses incurred up to Easter 2002.

Mr Fulham said he was not fully happy with the settlement and parents may return to court after July.

Megan's father Mike Walsh said: "What we want is for the department to assume its responsibility for the education of our children and that it's not again left to us."

John Maddock and Aideen Sheehan

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