National Supports - Educational Support

Lámh is the organisation that develops, promotes and maintains 'Lámh', the manual or 'key word' system of signs used by people with intellectual disabilities or communication needs in Ireland. Read about its benefits as a communication tool. Read about the training provided by the organisation. 

The Middletown Centre for Autism promotes best practice in the education of children and young people with autism throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Centre provides training, research, learning support and assessment and advice to parents, family members and educational professionals. It also hosts an annual conference on the latest research and practical supports which is open to autistic people, family members, educators, researchers and professionals to attend. You can access their online resources via their homepage - these resources include a Teenage Resource, a Building Capacity Resource, and a Sensory Processing Resource. 

The NCSE’s service is delivered through a national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs). They work with parents and schools and liaise with the HSE in providing resources to support children with special educational needs. Their FAQs page explains more about their service. 

Information on how to contact your local SENO is shared here, along with the contact person for each school in the country.

See also their Online Resources for parents which is divided out as follows: early years, primary school, post-primary school, special class/school. 

The National Parents Council (NPC) is a representative organisation for parents of children in education. The NPC Helpline  is a confidential service for parents. It can be contacted from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, on: 01 8874477, or by emailing: helpline@npc.ie. The NPC provides training, development and support for parents, including this series of information leaflets. 

Parenting Support provides local information on parenting supports and services in Kildare and Wicklow. They list local events and courses. They also list local supports and resources for parents. 

Pobal runs the AIM (Access and Inclusion Model) programme. It is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) programme. It provides a range of supports from level 1 to level 7, moving from universal to targeted supports. The AIM application process for each new pre-school year opens in May of that year. See the FAQs section of the AIM website for further information.