The mother of a young boy with autism who has been counting down the days to his return to school says she hasn’t worked up the courage to tell him it may not happen.

Special needs classes and schools are due to return on Thursday morning; however, unions have warned that they still have “grave safety concerns.”

The Government has said it is still engaging with unions and schools to find a solution.

This morning, Dublin mother-of-three Ciara Jones told Newstalk that her 11-year-old son Gavin, who has autism, has been counting down the days to his return.

“Since Sunday night, since we received the very positive email from the school about the return, I did take the uniform out and I made three little stickers so to speak and put them over the hangar,” she said. “You know, three days to go, two days to go, one day to go.

“He sees the uniform hanging there and he sees that there are two days to go and I just don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow because we are going to have to turn that to one day to go.”

Impact

She said the original decision to keep schools closed this month had a “massive” impact on Gavin and she now doesn’t know what to tell him about Thursday morning.

“The joy we had knowing Gavin was going back to school was just great and now the way that has been taken away from us and from Gavan has been horrendous,” she said. “Without any thought about how that will impact him and other families.

“The impact was huge the last time. The whole lockdown and then two weeks ago, the impact was massive, including on me as parent having to tell him.

“I haven’t worked up the courage to tell him. To be honest, I am still hoping against all hope that he will be going in on Thursday – I really am.”

Regression

She said that, over the last two weeks, Gavin has regressed in ways he never did during the first lockdown.

“This time around, we have seen Gavin retreating to his bedroom,” she said. “He is really not engaging in any family activities and he doesn’t even want to go for walks.

“He is not doing his usual sensory play with water that he loved – that was the one thing that really helped him to self-regulate and that is all gone. All his hard work that he put in since returning from the last lockdown …

“You know, he had really promoted some wonderful independent behaviour since returning in September – getting back into routine and getting back into the place he really loves, which is the classroom, and that, I really do believe, is all lost again.”

"Blame game"

Ms Jones special needs education “should not be a political or unionised issue” and urged all stakeholders to think of the children.

“This is effectively for the good of all SEN children,” she said. “I think that has been lost and, very sadly, has become secondary in the conversations and the discussions.

“I think that is very much what we are seeing today – the blame game is very much on. We have seen people turning on each other and really the most important thing in all of this is our children.

Talks

Last night, the Education Minister Norma Foley said she would continue engaging with unions to “find a shared solution that is in the best interest of children with additional educational needs and their families.

“What is key is that the needs of the most vulnerable children in our education system remain our priority,” she said.

Meanwhile, the INTO General Secretary John Boyle said: “The Government must take responsibility for poor and untimely communication and mixed messages over the past two weeks.”

He said the union would “continue to be constructive” and work towards the safe, orderly reopening of schools.

Reporting form Kacey O'Riordan