The culling of Special Needs Assistant posts, underway since January, will gain further impetus in March with the completion of a government review.

Parents of autistic children attending ‘Barnacoyle ABA School’ claim they have been excluded from Department talks on the funding of ABA schools.

Prof Michael Fitzgerald, child psychiatrist at TCD, described the results of three major studies as hopeful, but he could not say a cure was imminent.

The INTO claims closure of 128 special classes breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Ireland is a signatory.

Minister O’Keeffe has said he will consider the pooling of special needs classes by neighbouring schools rather than the abolition of these classes.

A study commissioned by the ESRI reveals that 30 per cent of non-national adults in this country have a degree compared to 17 per cent of Irish.

Minister O’Keeffe has written to 119 national schools informing them that special teacher support for children with mild learning disabilities is to be cut.

A study published last month in the American Journal of Psychiatry reveals shape and volume differences in the brains of children with ADHD.

The Department of Education has begun a value for money audit of special needs assistants in 100 schools, including 20 special needs schools.

Castleknock Educate Together national school has learned that there is now adequate funding to enable it to open its Special Needs Unit this September.

A meeting which took place last night between Fianna Fail backbenchers and Education Minister Mary Hanafin failed to change the minister’s mind.

Research suggests that 10% of children could have a “working memory” impairment that causes them to do less well than expected in school.

Over 50 backbenchers are to meet Minister Mary Hanafin this week to discuss their concerns over the government’s approach to autism.

Six-year-old Luca Murphy cannot go to school because the autism outreach unit in the local Castleknock school where he is enrolled has not yet opened.