By Anne Dachel

As you read this, keep in mind that officially one in every 21 children, one in every 13 boys in Ireland has an autism diagnosis.  (SEE: Cork Independent )

Just like in the U.S., where one in every 22 children in California has autism and one in every 20 in Florida, Ireland’s numbers raise no alarm. The reality that those rates are only going to increase in the coming years is of no concern to officials.

Coincidentally over a three day period I found four stories in the Irish press. They’re all about parents desperately trying to get support and services for their AUTISTIC CHILREN.

I think they’re also about the complete and utter failure of anyone in the government or the medical profession to recognize autism as an epidemic that threatens the future of Ireland.

Keep in mind as you read these stories that, just like in America, the public in Ireland has been taught that all the autism is nothing new; this kind of child has always been around. We didn’t recognize the problem.

Schools

Two of these stories are about special schools.

Sept 10, 2023, Irish Examiner: Cork special school yet to open already has waiting list

Mother of boy with additional needs cannot secure school place 

The East Cork Community Special School is set to open in Carrigtwohill in November. 

It will do so with 18 primary and secondary-level students.

The Department of Education told the Irish Examiner that there is already a waiting list for the school.

A spokeswoman for the Cork Education and Training Board said: “Cork Education and Training Board is working to a date of Monday, November 6 as the opening day for East Cork Community Special School.

“A principal for the school was appointed this week and Cork ETB is currently in the process of recruiting other staff.”

The school is for students, aged 4 to 18, who have a diagnosis of autism and complex learning needs and for students with complex learning needs, who require the support of a special school setting, according to Cork ETB.

The mother of a 15-year-old boy who has recently been diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability says her son has returned to a unit in a mainstream school elsewhere in east Cork on a part-time basis.

He also has a diagnosis of autism and ADHD and is attached to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and the East Cork Disability Network services.

During the last academic year, he could not cope in mainstream school as he is not on the same level as his peers either emotionally or socially.

Local Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry said he is not surprised that there is already a waiting list for places in the new school. …

The spokeswoman added: “It is envisaged that the new special school will continue to grow and expand to support additional students over time.”

In addition, 388 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2023/24 school year, she said….

A similar story came from Dublin.

Sept 8, 2023, Irish Times: New special school opens in south Dublin: ‘It’s very emotional. We never thought it would happen’

Miriam Kenny never thought her son Jonathan (11) would get a chance to go to school in his own neighbourhood.

They live in the affluent suburb of Templeogue in South Dublin. Yet, for all its advantages, the area has suffered from acute shortages of special education places.

Many children with complex conditions have been rejected by their local schools and forced to travel outside their communities and across the city to access an education that meets their needs.

This week, however, Miriam and Jonathan were able to walk to school at the newly-opened Libermann Spiritan School, a special school established on the grounds of the Spiritan-run Templeogue College.

The school has enrolled 24 pupils this week; it will grow to 30 next month. Subject to expansion plans, it could provide education for more than 150 students with special needs.

“We’re delighted,” says Kenny, whose son is autistic and needs a special school place. “It’s a very emotional and exciting day. I cried a lot. We never thought it would happen. Our son will be able to walk to school and be part of his local community. It’s something I hope many other children who need the extra support of a special school in the area will benefit from.”…

 “The opening of this Libermann Spiritan School in Templeogue represents a key milestone as we continue to engage with the Department of Education and National Council for Special Education to maximise opportunities that may exist for the provision of education to children with special needs in all our schools.”…

“We’ve been campaigning since 2018 for local autistic children to be able to access appropriate educational placements in their local area, so this is incredible for them,” she says….

The failure of schools to provide for so many children with autism is only the beginning.

(See my recent story on the lack of adult care.)

As more and more of these children age out of school with nowhere to go, adult services will be overwhelmed. There will never be a supply of residential places to meet the demand.

We can already see that happening in the other stories I found.

No One to Help

Sept 10, 2023, Independent: ‘I love my son but I’m scared of him… we are prisoners in our own home’ – mother of severely autistic boy (9) who needs urgent care

Audrey Dore-Geraghty loves her nine-year-old son Harrison, but she is also frightened of him.

He is severely autistic, as well as potentially schizophrenic, and is so unmanageable right now that the Wexford-based family is in “crisis”, according to his mother.

This follows years of “systematic neglect” by the health services. Ms Dore-Geraghty says her family is at “breaking point”, with no State support to deal with her increasingly volatile son. His behaviour is so violent that the mother of three is currently staying elsewhere with her younger children, while her husband and his father remain with Harrison in the family home.

The couple hope his behaviour stabilises to the point where the family all feel safe sleeping under the same roof again soon. But unless Harrison receives the urgent help he needs, his future is bleak, Ms Dore-Geraghty believes….

“I am at a family member’s place with my six-year-old son and 13-week-old daughter. I have been going to see Harrison every day with the other children, but that’s because my husband and his father are there. If I was on my own, I would be terrified he would attack me, but I’m mostly concerned for the other two kids. My husband can restrain him, [but] I can’t anymore.”

​Harrison Geraghty-Anthony was diagnosed with autism shortly before he turned three. Over the next couple of years his parents, who are dentists, made attempts to access State supports. They found services so lacking they paid for private therapy. Then Dublin-based, they sent Harrison to an autism-specialised pre-school, where he was a “huge challenge” to staff, according to his mother….

Harrison got a place in the autism unit at Kilrane National School in Rosslare. Audrey praised the school and its staff but it wasn’t long before his behaviour became so problematic that he had to be kept almost completely segregated.

It became clear to his parents that unless his behaviour improved, he would be unable to stay at the school. Unable to find a psychiatrist who would treat Harrison in the short term, the couple were forced to look abroad. They found a Spanish psychiatrist and the medication she prescribed helped….

CHI attempted to refer Harrison to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in Wexford, as well as a children’s disability service, but neither could accept him as he does not have a “verified intellectual disability”. As a consequence, he cannot access local psychiatric services.

“At a minimum, we require urgent respite services,” his mother added. “Urgent for the sake of the younger children’s lives and our mental health. We are all prisoners in our own home and the other children are suffering terribly. We are scared in our own home of our nine-year-old, who we know is only going to get bigger and stronger.”

When asked a series of questions about the concerns outlined by Harrison’s mother, a spokesperson for HSE/South East Community Healthcare said it was aware of the child’s case but could not comment specifically.

They said: “At this time, our staff and the families we support are coping with waiting times and staffing shortages which mean that often our service falls short of what people and families expect, and what our staff would want to deliver. Because of a limited pool of qualified and experienced staff, many of our teams are working with fewer members than they need… [We] regret where there is an extensive waiting time for an assessment or for supports and therapies that would help children and their family.”

Finally a story about desperate parents and a lack of summertime support programs. These children have severe autism.

‘We are Broken’

Sept 9, 2023, (Ireland) Independent: ‘We are broken, we are tired’ – Stark report outlines how families of children with special needs are left to fend for themselves

A lack of appropriate services and supports for children with special educational or acute needs is forcing parents to delay urgent self-care and medical appointments, with some left relying on anti-depressants.

More than 20 families have spoken about their experiences of daily struggles to support children with autism or intellectual disabilities this summer without access to vital services and structures….

“As a family, we are broken, we are tired,” said one mother of a nine-year-old girl who is autistic with a moderate-to-severe intellectual disability.

“Myself and my husband both work full-time in order to pay the mortgage but I don’t think we can continue. We are barely functioning in work and the strain of our home life is starting to affect our productivity in work.

“[My daughter] is constantly screaming. Not just shouting — I mean banshee-type screaming. She’s hurting herself by punching, pinching and throwing herself against walls and furniture and she’s attacking her family. She has regressed in every sense of the word.”…

The Department of Education said “children with the most complex special educational needs, especially in special schools, should have access to a school-based summer programme”, so it has tried to expand this.

It said 42,000 children participated in summer programmes last year, a 300pc increase compared to 2019, and efforts are being made to increase this further.

One Government source said they would like to see more schools provide summer programmes, but it is not possible to compel them.

“We have doubled funding to €40m [$43M] but unfortunately we cannot turn around and demand they open, because contractually they are not obliged to,” the source said….

Unfortunately, as the years progress we don't see a future where we can continue to live with the current lack of supports.

Has it always been like this in Ireland? Why aren’t increases in funding ever enough to solve the problem? Why is no ever worried about the future?

Autism has clearly captured Ireland. They have surrendered. They have no will to fight back. I’m sure the one in 21 rate for autism in Ireland from 2022 that I cited at the top of this story will be worse in a year or two. And I’m sure they’ll all be fine with it.

There is absolutely NO ONE who cares why this is happening.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race (Children’s Health Defense) 

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