Belfast: SEN parents face wait as children left without school places

Sarah Duncan’s eight-year-old son Aodhán is also without a place.

He has autism, ADHD, severe learning disability and is non-verbal.

She has been told the three schools she applied for will not have a place for Aodhán.

She said she would have been delighted for him to attend any of them but has been told they won’t be able to “meet the complexity” of his needs, or have the capacity to do so.

“It’s a devastating impact. Physically, mentally. It’s been devastating as a family,” Duncan said.

She added “absolutely everything” is a fight, and that “it takes every single thing in my being to fight for Aodhán, it’s just so disheartening no matter what you do, you’re not getting any further”.

Duncan described her son as “a complex child” who “needs to be in an environment to cope with those things”.

“As far as I’m aware, there is no other facility that would be suitable other than a special school,” she said.

“In school he uses intense occupational therapy, speech and language, physiotherapy.

“This isn’t just to do with his learning, it’s eating, toileting, taking care of him.”