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Dad forced to teach son at home
24.02.09
“Brandon has been badly
let down”
THE father of a child with a rare medical condition
has described his heartbreak at having to withdraw
his son from the local primary school in Buncrana
because there are no special needs supports for him.
Five-year old Brandon Morley-Doherty suffers from
OEIS - a complex condition that affects just
one-in-300,000 children. A plucky youngster with an
ever-ready smile, he has severe bowel and bladder
problems, only one kidney and mild spina bifida. His
identical twin brother, Arlen, was born without the
condition.
Brandon's father and full-time carer, Dallan
Doherty, says he has been "on a rollercoaster of
emotions" since he withdrew Brandon from Scoil
Iosagain on December 23, last year. The child had
already spent an extra year in a local community
playschool where he had the support of a HSE-funded
special support carer. Mr Doherty made his decision
after the HSE withdrew funding for Brandon's
childminder of several years, to act as his special
needs assistant within the local primary school.
While initially informed the child would receive the
services of an in-house special needs assistant (SNA)
at Scoil Iosagain, one never materialised. Mr
Doherty, 41, is at pains to point out that his young
son's needs are of such a sensitive and personal
nature, he requires the daily assistance of someone
familiar with his personal care routine and someone
whose discretion the family trusts implicitly.
Brandon has had only three special carers since his
birth in the Coombe Hospital in May 2003. |
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Mr Doherty doesn't
blame the HSE, agreeing that education is not its
remit, but he believes his son has been badly let
down by the education system. "I have waited in the
belief that the individuals involved in making
decisions would finally look after my son. But it
has come to the sad situation that Brandon has not
been able to go back to school since Christmas as he
has neither carer nor SNA assigned to him," he said.
"I do reading and sums with him in the mornings and
try to keep to a routine, but it's not the same |
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as him being at school
with other children. He also misses his
school-friends." On the advice of special needs
advocate, Kathy Sinnott MEP, Mr Doherty has applied
for a home tuition grant. He has also taken the
unusual step of calling the education welfare office
to ask why he is not being investigated for keeping
his child at home. "I'm told the law on this issue
doesn't come into play until a child is six, and
Brandon won't be six until May." He was told Scoil
Iosagain applied to the National Council for Special
Education (NCSE) for an SNA for Brandon back in
September 2008. However, the application was made
against the backdrop of a major review of SNA
resources nationally. The NCSE claim Brandon's case
was not part of the review and, as such, could not
be processed while the review was in progress. Scoil
Iosagain has since lost five of its 31 SNAs due to
the cutbacks. In its latest letter to Mr Doherty, on
February 4, the NCSE said, with the review now
complete, Brandon's application can be processed to
determine if his care needs can be met within Scoil
Iosagain's existing SNA resources.
But Mr Doherty, who lives alone with the twins,
remains worried for his son's future. He fears that
if an SNA is eventually allocated to his child, the
person won't have the skills or training needed to
deal with what is a rare, complex and sensitive
case. And he fears Brandon has already regressed due
to his six-week absence from school. "His behaviour
has changed and he is constantly questioning why he
can't go back to school with his brother. His year
is ruined as far as education goes and he will never
get that back," he said. In a statement yesterday
the NCSE said: "The NCSE, for obvious reasons, does
not comment publicly on the details of any
individual case, however, in this particular case,
the Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) is in
contact with the school in question, and is
available to allocate the relevant resources to this
school and the schools in her area." |
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