406. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Education and Youth if a person (details supplied) can be provided with an urgent date for an NEPS assessment. [49702/26]

I would like to take this opportunity to outline the work of my department in this area more broadly and the role of NEPS. All schools have access to:

• General support and advice from a NEPS psychologist, either through the school’s assigned psychologist or through the NEPS Advisory Support Line.

• Support from a NEPS psychologist in the event of a Critical Incident.

• National and Regional Support and Development service for school staff.

• Access for individual casework where a priority need is established to either a NEPS psychologist or a private educational psychologist on the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) panel.

?NEPS does not operate waiting lists. In common with other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS operates on a consultative model of service with assessments only one aspect of the NEPS service.

?NEPS encourages schools to support children and young people using the Continuum of Support, whereby school staff use a problem-solving approach, including school screening (assessment) and evidence-based intervention, for children and young people experiencing difficulties in the school context. The response to intervention is monitored and recorded in the Student Support File. The teachers, parents and child are involved in this process. Under this model, a diagnosis is not required for a child or young person to access supports that can be implemented at school level in mainstream classes, such as special education teaching support and SNA support.

?If a school has concerns that a child or young person is not making reasonable progress following evidence informed support and intervention, the school may prioritise the involvement of NEPS to support the identification of need process.

As a school-based service, requests for NEPS involvement must be made by the school principal or other designated staff member by contacting their assigned psychologist or the NEPS advisory line for schools temporarily without an assigned psychologist. In this instance, I would advise the parents to engage with the school principal and other relevant staff to discuss supports in place with a view to deciding on whether the involvement of NEPS is required at this time.