Children on the Autism Spectrum are eligible for a maximum of 40 hours tuition (or 10 hours per week over 4 weeks) in the month of July. Where the school a child with Autism attends does not provide tuition, parents are entitled to apply for home-based tuition funded by the Department of Education and Skills.
This years application process has opened and the form is due back with the Department of the 2nd May 2014.
You can download the form here
What are the benefits of the scheme?
Parents who have availed of the scheme in previous years will highlight numerous benefits. Children with Autism often find the long break from school, its routine and structure, very difficult – the July Provision gives structure for some of the summer to such children which not only benefits the child but indeed the whole family!
Additionally, children with Autism can fall behind in certain areas of the curriculum or find aspects of it very difficult and this scheme provides an opportunity to focus, one to one, on such areas. Indeed 10 hours a week one to one tuition is an opportunity not to be missed for many children with Autism who can get easily distracted or find the broader classroom setting difficult.
Who provides the tuition?
This is your responsibility. You must recruit a tutor to provide the tuition and this tutor must be registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland and have been Garda vetted in that academic year.
When recruiting a tutor there are numerous ways to find the right person – maybe you will start in your child’s school and see if a teacher there is interested? Maybe you will visit educational providers websites which advertise tutors looking to gain employment through the scheme or maybe you will advertise the position locally, through posters or advertisements.
Tutors must receive the approval of the Department, through a sanction letter before commencing work. You must apply for them to receive the payment for their work by the 8th August and will receive their money on the 6th November – though if they are currently on the Department’s Primary School payroll, the Department will handle payment for you.
It is also worth noting you can decide to use more than one tutor once the allocation of hours given to you by the Department is not exceeded.
I have more than one child eligible for the scheme – how will this affect by allocation?
The Department considers this issue on a case by case basis. Generally if the children’s needs and age / stage at education is similar a combined allocation of a maximum of 10 hours per week will apply, however if you have one eligible child in Primary School and one eligible child in Secondary School, a separate allocation will apply. This would also be true if there was a wide range of needs or abilities.
For more on this scheme please see the Department’s Programme Information Note here.
