Autism and education [IrishTimes]
- Published: 26 September 2011
Sir, – I understand that Victoria White (September 21st) is the wife of former minister Eamon Ryan and might feel a strong sense of party loyalty when she states that the Green Party, when in government, negotiated permanent funding for Applied Behaviour Analysis schools for children with autism. However, I must point out that there is no truth in her assertion and her statement that “Twelve ABA schools are not only open, but fully State funded”.
A condition for the former ABA schools of being “fully State funded” was that they could no longer practise as ABA schools but instead had to adopt the Department of Education’s (DES) preferred “eclectic model”, a model that has no basis in research.
Ms White mentions visiting ABACAS Kilbarrack. Perhaps she should ask to read the letter that the school received from the DES on July 2nd, 2010, a letter which expressly states that “the school is not an exclusively ABA specific school” and that it cannot advertise itself as such. The other former ABA schools received similar letters.
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