A North Clare child with additional needs could be waiting up to almost three years for an assessment after his condition was judged to more serious than initially thought.
Two and a half year-old Jack Linnane from Kilfenora suffers from severe meltdowns and was first referred for speech and language therapy last May, but his family claims he has yet to see a professional for treatment.
Jack’s mother Deirdre believes his communication difficulties is related to undiagnosed Autism, and says she has received conflicting letters from the HSE indicating that his assessment could get underway from next month and another stating the waiting list for assessments is 33 months.
In a statement to Clare FM, the HSE has confirmed that over 100 children are currently waiting for an Autism assessment in Clare and has apologised to families experiencing long waits.
Deirdre says its taken an enormous toll on her son.
You can listen to the full interview here:
Statement from HSE Midwest:
We cannot comment on individual cases as to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality.
There is a growing demand for Children’s’ Disability Services in the Mid-West and we have seen a 21% increase in new referrals over the past three years. There are significant challenges at this time for Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) to achieve the level, quality and types of service that we want to provide. Some of these challenges include reduced staff resourcing issues coupled with the increased demand for our services.
There are currently over 100 children between the ages of 0-9 years on the waiting list for an Autism assessment in Clare. The HSE apologises to service users and their families who are experiencing these long waits.
An additional senior psychologist has commenced on the East Clare Team which will help address the wait times and there are a number of current vacant posts going through the recruitment process including a Speech and Language Therapist.
CDNTs continue to work in partnership with families and the wider community as per the Progressing Disability Services Model.
The delivery of services to our service users and families does not have to wait for an autism assessment to be completed. There are a number of Service Users who, while awaiting an autism assessment, receive services from the CDNTs which work towards achieving goals as agreed with the child and their family. Typically, the family and the CDNT focus on what is uniquely important to the individual child and their family, and work to achieve those prioritised goals. This requires family involvement in the identification and measurement of achievements. The service focuses on the delivery of the right mix of universal, targeted and individual supports for each child to reach their full potential