Young Tipp boy waiting over 3 years for speech and language assessment

Photo: Andrii Yalanskyi via canva.com

A Tipperary mother is concerned her child may not progress in school due to delays in ASD assessments.

Linda’s 6 year old son has been waiting for an assessment for 37 months.

As he is in school, he is deemed a priority but Linda says she still can’t get answers and he has been left with no SNA in school and won’t qualify for one until he is assessed.

She is fearful that he might not be able to progress to first class as a result.

Linda says that there is serious lack of staff and vacancies in the county.

“It’s the next generation up and coming – they should be able to get services that they’re entitled to.

“Saying that there’s a shortage of Speech and Language (therapists) and a shortage of this and a shortage of that – I know plenty of girls that have actually completed their speech and language courses in college and can’t get a job.

“They have applied and applied and there’s apparently no positions available or they have been asked to work in the hospitals because of Covid.”