Call for secondary schools to better cater for students with autism

A CALL for all secondary schools in Meath to have at least one class to cater for the needs of students with autism was made by Meath Comhairle na nÓg during its presentation to the March meeting of Meath County Council.

Members of the local youth organisation Olivia Costello and Lisa O'Reilly in their presentation highlighted how just nine of the 23 secondary schools in the county have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classes and that while some schools have two or three, others have none and that in some cases it was merely a "small cold room with a chair and a box of fidget toys".

They argued that as a baseline, each secondary school should have at least one ASD class and urged councillors to speak to their TDs and colleagues to request that all secondary schools have at least one.

They also called for all schools to have career guidance counsellors and school completion workers saying these workers were integral to students getting relevent information, assistance and assessment and that students that don't have this vital resource are at a disadvantage.

Meath Comhairle na nÓg has 35 members ranging in age from 12-17 from across the country and gives local young people the chance to have their voices heard on the issues that affecting their lives.

At their annual conference in October, school stress emerged as the most important issue and while they said school stress is nothing new that some of the things highlighted should not be an issue.

These included late night emails from teachers stating that "just as adults have a right to switch off from their work lives when they get home, they should also have the right to switch off from their school lives at a decent hour".

Access to period products was an issue causing stress that they argued could be easily remedied and they highlighted how vending machines are often broken or unstocked and in some schools don't exist at all.

They asked councillors to support their request to Healthy Ireland and Healthy Meath to survey schools on the condition of any period product machines in secondary schools and commit to the repair or replacement of broken machines or if there are no machines in place for Healthy Meath to look at viability of installing these machines in secondary schools across Meath.

The delegates said they have invited Education Minister and local TD Helen McEntee to attend their March or April meeting and also urged all councillors to attend their annual conference in October.

Councillors thanked the delegates for their presentation which they said gave a valuable insight into issues affecting young people and were supportive of their requests on the issues raised.