Hundreds Of Children In Kildare Stuck Waiting To See Psychologists Or Speech And Language Therapists

Tuesday, 3 June 2025 11:10

By Martin Osborne

Some parents are being advised to go private but can not afford to.

A critical shortage of psychologists and speech and language therapists is preventing some children with complex needs from accessing vital educational support.

Kildare and West Wicklow are among the areas with children waiting the longest to see a psychologist, with 707 children stuck in a "logjam" up until December last year, according to Labour TD Marie Sherlock.

In one incident cited by the TD, a young boy with autism, ADHD, and speech and language difficulties, is set to begin secondary school this September.

Despite his progress, he cannot receive the assistive technology he needs to fully access the curriculum because a required report from a qualified professional has not been provided.

Current Department of Education rules require that such reports come from a psychologist, occupational therapist, or speech and language therapist, typically through the HSE’s Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs).

However, some areas do not have an available psychologist to carry out the much-needed assessments, nor can the assessment be carried out by a school.

Some parents are being advised to go private but can not afford to.

Commenting on the incident of the young boy, Sherlock said: "We have engaged with the HSE locally about this issue. Its response is either to get the report done privately or to get a resource teacher within his school to conduct what is called a detailed assessment of speed of handwriting, DASH. The school could go away and spend a few hundred euro to get the software to conduct the test, but who is going to complete the report?"

She said the report must come from a "relevant professional, such as an educational psychologist, occupational therapist or speech and language therapist".

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