Moving to Ireland with pre-schooler with ASD?

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Hello everyone, I am looking for advice on where to begin with trying to find a place for my son in a ECCE scheme/pre-school in September 2024 when he will be 4. Grateful if anyone based in Ireland with knowledge in this area can advise.

A few months ago at 3.5 he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He attends a mainstream nursery and we are in the process of gathering evidence to apply for extra funding for the setting, however we plan to move to Ireland in summer 2024. I am starting to contact national schools for September 2025 however he will need to attend a pre-school the year before school starts.

Is the best thing to do to contact any pre-schools within the county and ask if they have spaces/can use the reports and evidence we have from the NHS here to apply for additional funding? I have read about the AIMs model and think he would need Level 7: Additional Capitation i.e. the potential for a 1-1 for some of the day.

I haven't come across an online list of pre-schools within Ireland (the way you can find a central list of any national and secondary schools via the Department of Education webpage) who support ASD.

Many thanks.

Just for clarification are you looking for a mainstream preschool or a preschool for ASD children? My son went to a mainstream play school and IME most children do go to mainstream at this stage most don’t get extra support but some will have SNA’s (special needs assistants).

Do you know where you will be living and what primary school you are planning on sending them to. I would contact play schools and crèches in the vicinity and see if they have places for ECCE as well as talking to them about your child’s needs. Schools apply for SNA’s not parents so it’s probably the same for preschool too. Depending on where you are planning on moving to there may not be places so be mentally prepared for that. Some places you need to put the child’s name down at birth.

A lot is going to depend on location. I know the mainstream pre school my daughter attends is full already for September 24. If you join one of the Irish autism parenting groups on Facebook you will great advice. You do need to be thinking ahead for primary school as well. Will he be able for mainstream or will be need an asd class? Asd class spaces can be a nightmare to get but in my own personal experience a good asd class can do absolute wonders for a child.

We don't have a system where you apply for additional funding based on a child's needs. For pre-school you need to start ringing around for places and have honest conversations about his needs. When it comes to primary if he is in a mainstream school the school can allocate SNA and resource time from what they have available. The system is pretty dreadful and there's a real sense of roulette given the way resources are allocated. Getting access to therapy (SLT, OT etc) outside of school is a whole other nightmare. None of this will be available within a mainstream primary school, waiting lists for public services are years long and you'll want to be sure that the assessments you have will be accepted. Private services are available but there are wait lists for many and they are expensive. So much depends on the needs of your child but children with additional needs are poorly served (speaking from my own experience and what I see in schools).

Start with the county childcare committee of wherever you are moving to and ask for their list of registered services. You can work your way through these asking that he be put on their wait lists (full day services ie creches will offer sessional/ecce only places too, it doesnt have to be just preschools). Your big difficulty will be that a lot of places maybe already booked up so you need to do this asap.
You need a confirmed place first, then the service can apply for AIM support, as there is already documentation re his ASD they can probably submit the application in June but it the co-ordinator will visit him in the service before deciding on the level awarded. If he does get L7 just be warned that getting a staff member to fill the position will be difficult, the childcare industry is in a crisis here and finding anyone that can afford to work just 15 hours a week for 38 weeks a year is very hard.
ASD preschools are an option too depending where you are moving to, but again difficult to find a place. Might be worth get in touch with the public health nurse for the area and ask is there a way to have him referred as you obviously wont be under the services here in time.

We had a child in both specialist preschool and mainstream preschool in his two preschool years. Speak to a local primary school and see do they have a preschool class, ours did. They actually do have specialist support for kids in preschool which is applied for once they have information about your child’s needs.

School is mainstream with some support, specialist unit with more support and less emphasis on academics or special school.

All of this is dependent on local provision, ours has improved enormously over recent years.

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice. Wanted to check in to follow-up.

I've secured a pre-school place for my son for September. Contacted 4 pre-schools local to the area we'll be in to start with, 1 had no availability, 2 had PM sessions only available (not ideal for us but would have taken it if another didn't come up), and the one which I preferred the most had one last AM session and was very accommodating when we discussed DS' needs. I spoke with the owner/manager on the phone for 45 mins so we really delved in to where he's at right now, challenges etc and how they could support him. They will arrange for an AIM officer (who they say they have a good relationship with) to come out and observe him once he starts to explore additional support.

The SENO team for the county we'll be in have been helpful so far in sending me a list of schools with ASD units attached and what is required to go on the admissions list. So all in all, good so far with regards to laying the ground work. Let's see how he gets on!

That all sounds very positive