Special education facility is sought in Castlewellan

Special education facility is sought in Castlewellan

12 September 2012

EDUCATION officials are seeking permission to develop a specialist learning support unit in Castlewellan to cater for up to 30 children with social communication issues or autism.

A development proposal has been lodged by the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) seeking permission for the creation of the specialised unit at St. Malachy’s Primary School.

The school, which already has a unit for children with moderate learning difficulties, is hoping to extend its existing service for local families by re-launching its service as a learning support unit.

The government is looking for opportunities to develop such specialised units due to a recent upturn in the number of pupils receiving a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and Aspergers Syndrome.

Statistics published as part of the development proposal, which will be published this week, show there are now 629 children in the SEELB area with an autism diagnosis, 137 with an Aspergers diagnosis and 412 children with speech and language issues.

The only other learning support unit in the district is based at Cumran Primary School in Clough.

The principal of St. Malachy’s Primary School, Mr. Maurice O’Neill, said it was hoped the unit would be approved for opening next September.

He said the unit would be created to help children from the local community, many of whom currently have to make long journeys to their nearest available unit.

He said the school already has highly skilled expert staff within its existing unit who would teach in the new learning support unit if approved.

“We want to be able to help all the children in the local community rather than them having to travel many miles every day,” he said.

“The creation of a learning support unit would allow us to be more specialised for the complex needs of children with social communication issues and/or autism.”

A copy of the full development proposal for the new unit is now available for inspection at the offices of the South Eastern Education and Library Board in Dundonald during normal office hours.