Parents who have concerns about their child/children's development should contact their local health nurse. They will then refer you for an assessment of needs from the Assessment Officer under the Disability Act if required. By law this assessment should be completed by 6 months from the date of referral and the children should be under 5 years of age. Parents can however obtain a diagnosis privately from a qualified Clinical Psychologist or Child Psychiatrist using DSM V.

Upon obtaining your diagnosis report it will have recommendations for appropriate educational support and therapies needed.

If your child got a diagnosis of ASD you then need to apply to the different schools to get him/her on their waiting list either for the ASD unit or mainstream with a Special Needs Assistant. You should contact your local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO). You can locate your SENO from www.ncse.ie. He/She would be able to assist you with finding suitable placement for your child.

You can apply for home tuition from the Department of Education until a suitable place is available. To do this you will need to download the form off their website (Google home tuition form it should come up with the relevant year form). You will then need to get in touch with your local SENO to approve you apply for home tuition.

You will then need to source a qualified Primary teacher as per the Department of Education requirement to sign the form to be your child's tutor.

You will then need to send this form to the Department of Education Special Needs Section. Please note that unless the Department as approved the teacher they cannot start working with your child as the Department will not issue payment. Parents who are interest in sending their child/children to Hope, should get in touch and we will provide the teachers as well as advise you on completion and submitting of the home tuition form.

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