Can anyone in Ireland tell me about SEN provision over there?

[Ilikepie]

We are thinking of moving to Ireland. DS is in currently in reception in an excellent school, which is particularly good wrt SEN. He is a little different :-), but it's hard to put your finger on, and will need SEN support, though no diagnosis as yet. The current school are gathering evidence for getting this support, and are fitting school life around him in a lovely way. He has one on one support from a teaching assistant nearly all the time. The older children all look out for him in a very caring way.

can anyone in ireland tell me what support he would get over there? what if he never gets a diagnosis of anything? Would he still get the educational support he needs? he is very happy in his school, I am very worried about moving him, but we may need to for the overall good of our family.

Hi I'm assuming you are thinking of moving to the south of ireland. I am from the south but living in NI. I don't have any experience of dealing with the education system in the south for my DS with Aspergers but from what I've heard from friends there is not a lot of help these days available and the numbers of SNA's ( special needs assistants) is constantly being reduced. We get a good level of support for DS here in NI and I would be very reluctant to move him to somewhere that I would be unsure about the level of support in future years. No guarantees here either and we had announcements of worrying cuts here yesterday but when DH sometimes talks about moving south its both the SEN system and the health system that stops me considering it.. One good thing about the education system i general is that it is less focussed on stats and results as early on as in the UK, so there is a gentler start. You don't have to start school until 6 although most start before that. Irelands biggest parenting forum Magicmum may provide you with some more specific information if that helps

Thank you. I'll check out magic mum. Yes healthcare and SEN are the two things stopping us; but DH is not happy here, so we're damned if we do and damned if we don't....