Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): I welcome the witnesses from the Middletown Centre for Autism: Stephen Douthart, CEO; Fiona McCaffrey, head of research and development; Jill McCanney, head of learning support and assessment; and Andrew McCracken, head of finance and corporate services. You are all welcome. We are delighted to host you for this evidence session after you kindly hosted us at Middletown earlier in the mandate for our concurrent meeting with the Health Committee. We look forward to hearing your evidence on special educational needs (SEN) provision and the wider SEN transformation agenda.

It is over to you for your opening presentation, and we ask that it be up to 10 minutes long. We will then move to questions from members and try to keep to around five minutes per enquiry for each member. I ask members and witnesses to work with me by keeping to those timescales, so that we can run the meeting to time and give everyone a real opportunity to come in.

Mr Stephen Douthart (Middletown Centre for Autism): I will start, before the Q & As. Chair, Deputy Chair and members, thanks very much for the invite here today. SEN is a really important topic, and we are glad to see that discussing SEN proposals is at the top of your agenda at the start of the new year.

The start of a new year is always a time for reflection and optimism for parents, schools and the SEN system. It is also a time when hope matters but only if it is matched by delivery. That context feels particularly important today, because it is almost a year since the initial delivery actions of the SEN reform agenda were launched last February. Families, schools and practitioners have waited a long time, and they deserve to see not just intent but momentum.

If I may, I will start with something simple. In retail, if someone is employed to stack shelves, there is a legal requirement to provide manual handling training, not because it looks good in a policy document but because it is ethical, efficient and protective. Education is no different, yet we ask teachers, classroom assistants and school leaders to support increasingly complex needs, including autism, often without consistent, evidence-based preparation. When that happens, people burn out, children struggle and families lose confidence, and, once that confidence has been lost, it is incredibly hard to rebuild. That is not a failure of commitment in the system but, in my opinion, a failure of system design.

Before I go any further, it is important to explain briefly where Middletown sits in the system. As you should or may already know, Middletown Centre for Autism is an all-island organisation that was established under the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. We are publicly funded equally by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland and the Department of Education and Youth in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, we are recognised as a non-departmental public body (NDPB) and are accountable through NI's robust governance framework. Under our management statement and financial memorandum (MSFM), it is not appropriate for us to comment on departmental policy choices or performance. What is appropriate and, I hope, useful to the Committee is to give an insight based on our role as a named delivery partner that works with schools, families and professionals into how reform lands.

As part of the SEN reform delivery plan, Middletown Centre for Autism has engaged in preparatory work and planning. In the 24 hours before the Committee meeting, we received confirmation of an agreement in principle to proceed with an inclusion symposium that will be delivered to school leaders across Northern Ireland through an autism-informed lens and funded by the transformational budget project. In parallel, we have submitted proposals for structured learning support delivery; that means formalised pathways for the education system. Both strands focus on building practical classroom capability, which, we feel, is incredibly important, rather than additional bureaucracy. In practice, our role is to help the system move faster and more safely by turning everyday practice into evidence-based capability.

What has changed in the past year? Let us go back even further than that. Our understanding of autism has changed dramatically. Pedagogy has evolved, evidence has evolved and, thankfully, practice has also evolved. At Middletown, we are at the intersection of that evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence. We test what works, and we scale it and roll it out. We know that autism-affirming practice improves outcomes. We know that early support makes improvements before matters escalate. We also know that training helps build confidence for staff in the wider system in supporting the children who need it most. The SEN reform agenda reflects most of that learning, and that is welcome. The scrutiny question now is not about whether the direction of travel is right but about whether the delivery is strong enough and about what is needed to embed it consistently across the system.

Northern Ireland spends over £600 million a year on SEN. Against that backdrop, Middletown Centre for Autism operates on approximately £1·6 million. That means that 0·25% of the spend on SEN in Northern Ireland comes to Middletown. I am definitely not making a funding argument today, especially after yesterday's announcement of the draft multi-year Budget, but I am making a leverage argument about making efficiencies in the system through less waste and about making money go further to produce real results.

At Middletown, we feel that, when capability is missing, pressure does not disappear; it simply reappears through escalation, more assessment demands, more school exclusions and greater family distress. System-wide investment and workforce capability, early intervention and autism-affirming impact are needed in order to strategically deliver the SEN reform plan.

From our experience as a named delivery partner, it is our opinion that three things will determine whether the plan is successful. The first is training, which cannot be optional and nor can it be disconnected from the lived experience of children and young people and the classroom reality. It must be evidence-informed and, going forward, embedded into how schools operate. It must not be tokenism. Just as with the manual handling example, that approach is not only efficient and ethical but the responsibility of us all. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to make a true difference.

The system currently teaches families unintentionally that escalation is the fastest route to support. That is not because families are unreasonable but because early support is often inconsistent and inaccessible. Reform will succeed only if schools genuinely have the confidence, skills and capacity to meet the needs before the crisis point. There is no shortage of frameworks and policies — you know that — but, where delivery partners are engaged meaningfully, early and consistently, that will help reform embed faster and more efficiently.

Chair and members, a new year brings optimism but also collective responsibility. The SEN reform agenda gives real hope. From Middletown's perspective, the opportunity now is not to design more policy but to embed what we already know, which is what works with scale and discipline. Parents, schools and the workforce do not need more promises; they need confidence that, this time, reform will deliver.

Thank you. The team and I are happy to answer your questions.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Thank you, Stephen. That was a really helpful and succinct summary of a lot of the things that we have heard during the SEN inquiry. Delivery is key now. We have all heard that good intentions go only so far. If we raise expectations and do not deliver, the consequences will be potentially serious. Delivery is key, and that is a really great starting point.

It is clear to me from having visited Middletown when you hosted us that your service is based on expertise, robust research and a model that works. That service provides a training package with a whole-school approach. It reaches out to parents and does so much more than one-off or tokenistic interventions.

You have highlighted the resource challenges. Looking at that service in a system that, as we know, is operating in constrained financial circumstances and given the discussion across the media about the Budget announcement, with the huge pressures on SEN budgets in particular, how would you propose we take the good practice from your approach and embed that into the system, without necessarily busting the budget? How can we do that in a way that embeds all the good stuff that you do?

Mr Douthart: Consistency is key across every professional in every school. I am glad to say that there are plans for career pathways for classroom assistants. People's professional expertise needs to be recognised. One of the good things in Middletown is that we identify pockets of best practice. We host best-practice days, and we take what already exists in the system and help to share it. That is something that we want to encourage and do more of, whether that is through digital enhancements and learning platforms or through more face-to-face approaches. There needs to be a variety of media, but we must listen to the teachers, the classroom assistants and the special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). They give us the answers; it is all about how we scale that impact and carry it out.

I know that you will be talking about smartphones later. Technology is something that must be utilised. We have to be brave, and we have to make big choices. Were we to say that we can train every classroom assistant in Northern Ireland, why not do that? We have already delivered a programme for 74,000 Health and Social Care (HSC) professionals on consistent, first-time quality delivery, uniting the trusts: why can we not do the same in Education?

Our services are there, and the packages are ready to go. We just need the framework to work with our delivery partners to make it happen.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): We talk about early intervention all the time when we are on this issue. It almost becomes clichéd: "Early intervention is the answer". To what extent is successful early intervention connected to a properly trained and equipped workforce of teachers and classroom assistants?

Mr Douthart: I am conscious that I do not want to answer everything, so I will bring in my team.

When we talk about early intervention, sometimes there is a misconception that it is only at the point of diagnosis, that it is when a child starts their journey and the parents find out. We say that it starts at the point of need. You do not need a diagnosis: we help on the basis of the need, not the label.

Also, we must think about the transitions of the child. It is not just when they are young; it may be when they hit puberty and they are going into "big school". What happens at 16-plus? We see early interventions at the point of need, not the point of the life cycle. There needs to be a change of mindset in the system so that early interventions happen when people put their hand up and say, "I need help". That is a brave step for a lot of parents and professionals. We need to say, "OK, we are here, and this is the pathway for you". Having clarity and those communication channels is key.

At the moment, there could be further improvement and enhancement. The system is fragmented, and we are in a period of change. There are 125 actions in the SEN reform plan. There are more than 70 actions in the outcomes-based accountability framework. What one to three actions will truly make a difference? Consistent training for all classroom assistants, teachers and professional educationalists. If we want to truly bring inclusion into the system and make it mainstream, there has to be equity across the service, whether in special schools, primary schools or post-primary schools.

I am not sure whether I answered your exact question there, Nick.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): You maybe did not quite answer the question that I asked, but your answer is probably more helpful than the question. In the inquiry, we have been trying to get to this: money is short, so what are the interventions that really matter? It comes through loud and clear that workforce capability and training the workforce to meet need at the point where it is identified matters.

Mr Douthart: Nick, that is not to say that there are not excellent pockets of practice out there, but it is about consistency. We must create a pathway to say, "Here is your time and space for formalised continuing professional development (CPD)". If you just hand over autonomy to the schools and the school leaders, you find that their job is to support our children and young people. They do not have time to research the best practice: that is our job. We do that work, and then we will deliver it to you. It is about inefficiencies and waste in the system rather than schools and boards of governors doing it.

Is there anything else?

Mrs Jill McCanney (Middletown Centre for Autism): I know that it is an overused phrase — I am searching for a new phrase to encapsulate it — but it is about "capacity building". That is not to say that we are handing over more work to the staff who are in the schools; rather, it is about our work in a school. When we are in working with one young person, it is not just about that one young person but about how we can build that out. That ties in with the early intervention. The one young person whom we have been asked to go in to support is past the stage of early intervention, but the teachers and classroom assistants with whom we work while we are in that school will then embed those practices much earlier on throughout the whole school system. Therefore, it is that capacity-building piece that we do when we are in a school, but we do that through modelling, mentoring and doing the work on the ground.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is helpful.

I want to ask about something that you mentioned in your opening remarks, and you alluded to it again in your answer to my first question. The Department has not yet published a formal inclusive education policy. You mentioned that you will be running an inclusion symposium. One of the things that have struck me in the inquiry is that even people who are right in the middle of the system are not always clear on the role of the special school, of a specialist class in a mainstream setting or of mainstream schools in how we meet the needs of children with SEN. How important is it that we set out a clear vision of how those parts of the system should interact and what inclusion looks like when we think about SEN and disability in our school system?

Mr Douthart: It is fundamental to joining up the system. A child who starts off in nursery school, goes into primary and into post-primary school may, at some stage, need to divert to a specialist provision in mainstream education etc. Therefore, the system needs cohesion, and it needs to be linked up. The service that supports that child has to remain consistent throughout.

That is incredibly important.

In respect of frameworks for teachers, I go back to the initial teacher education piece. There are strong, tough decisions that we have to wrestle with and get a definite answer on, as they have been evaded for too long. We need clarity for teachers. We also need to create space. There is only so much capacity in the system. We are good at empowering and bringing people in on projects, but, sometimes, the leaders have to make tough decisions and try things, see whether they work and then get feedback on the ground.

I would love to see the inclusion symposium that we are running being made mandatory. We do not have the power to make it mandatory, but we can say, "It is here". We also have an all-island event coming up in the CityNorth Hotel where we will share best practice around school non-attendance. That is topical, and we need to find out what we can do to move on it. We have opened up and said, "Come to us. We are here to help". We have capacity issues, but we are asking people to come to training sessions, whether that is online or in person. The system needs to think about how we can bring that inclusion together in a way that is meaningful and manageable. There is also educational attainment, personal learning plans for students and goals that need to be met.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is great.

I will hand over to the Deputy Chair. Members may indicate to the Clerk if they want to come in with questions.

Mr Sheehan: Thanks for your presentation, Stephen. You mentioned consistency a few times. Our model for dealing with children with special needs is fractured. We have special schools, specialist provision and some children in mainstream: how can we bring consistency to that? Some people argue that one of the fundamental flaws in the system is that there are not enough special schools where teachers with specialist skills can work with children who need support and that, because of the lack of strategic planning, there is a rush to get children into specialist provision classes and so on. How do we bring consistency to that?

Mr Douthart: There are two ways. With regard to modelling, trajectories and the numbers that are coming through the system, do we have a robust enough pipeline to plot — geographically, systemically, factually and numerically — where children are now? Is the child in nursery school? What primary school will they move to? We can forward plan for that. That is one way.

The second way is to go back to the child at the centre. Where do they feel safe? Where do they want to be? Where do they thrive? Where do the parents feel comfortable with their child being? We are good at telling people that and putting people into boxes, but where do they want to be, and do we empower them to get there? We need to give those children and young people a voice. We know that some of them do not have a voice, but their parents and families do. How many kids and parents in our system do not think that they are in the right school? We are good at data collection, Pat, but we need to face some of those tough questions rather than make assumptions about where children need to be. They need to feel safe, valued and part of the community. Children with SEN are no different from neurotypical children. Some will want to be at school; others will not want to be at school; but they need a place in which to thrive. They deserve that, but I am not sure that they have it at the moment.

Mr Sheehan: Fair enough. You touched on teacher training. How can we bring consistency to the system if teachers are not being trained properly?

Mr Douthart: You can do mop-ups and top-ups, but it needs to start in teacher training. If someone picks a career, they must get trained in it. We talk about the strength of the curriculum. What is the training needs analysis of the school system that ensures that every teacher meets the minimum standard? Is every teacher trained to deal with the one in five children who are neurodivergent? When there is such a neurodivergent population, if we do not make that mandatory, are we truly setting the system up for success ? It starts with the initial teacher education. Then, what happens for teachers who are in the system? They need the space and the framework to be taken out and protected.

As I said, the understanding, pedagogy and experience of autism has continued to evolve in the past 10 years. What we teach in Middletown today will, hopefully, evolve even further. That is a good point about having us at the cutting edge. To be able to say what is right now, we need a starting point, but we also need to create milestones and look at gaps.

Pat, our head of training is Dr Fiona McCaffrey. Is there anything that you would like to add?

Dr Fiona McCaffrey (Middletown Centre for Autism): A key point that the Chair and Deputy Chair made is that current educational placements vary across Northern Ireland: you can have provision in mainstream and in special education. All of those professionals — classroom assistants and teachers — have different training needs. That is acknowledged in the SEN reform plan. We need to understand the unique needs of teachers across different settings and address those in a structured way.

One of the things that we are doing at Middletown is our professional growth partnerships. We are delivering that programme in partnership with the Education Authority (EA). It is about working with teachers who are currently in school rather than those in initial teacher education, which I will come to. A seminar is delivered, after which there is a series of growth partnership meetings; you do not just come in, do training and leave again. The idea of a coaching model is mentioned in the SEN reform plan. We are working on some of the strategies identified in the SEN reform plan. Building up a coaching relationship with teachers who are working across educational placements is really useful. It is about having that community and bringing people together. The EA works with cluster groups, and we are working with the EA to really complement its work.

There needs to be a consistent thread throughout initial teacher education, from when teachers are in teacher training college to when they are newly qualified and then become established. People's needs are on a trajectory, and teachers will be in different classrooms and different learning environments. It is about having a consistent plan and framework to address neurodivergence throughout educational placements. Middletown could be very supportive of that. You will know from your visit to Middletown that we have an award-winning master's in autism studies with the University of Limerick. We have experience of developing models of teaching and learning for education professionals.

Mr Sheehan: We know that there is a shortage of teachers in certain subjects, particularly the STEM subjects, and in Irish-medium education. Is there a reluctance among young students to go into special needs teaching as a speciality?

Dr McCaffrey: I can speak only about the education professionals with whom we interface. We interface with people who are full of enthusiasm and passion for working with children and young people with special educational needs. If there were stronger frameworks, CPD opportunities and stakeholder engagement, you might see more of that enthusiasm throughout Northern Ireland. However, as Stephen said, in the practice that we engage in across Northern Ireland, teaching professionals are full of enthusiasm.

Mr Sheehan: Your organisation provides support to the Irish-medium sector in the South: do you provide any such support in the North? Do you have any relationship with organisations such as Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta?

Dr McCaffrey: We absolutely do. Between 2023 and 2025, we worked with Gaeloideachas, which is based in the Republic of Ireland, to create Irish language support for teachers working in Irish-medium education. That is used throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. We work with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta and have provided Irish-language seminars for it and spoken at its conference. In addition, we are working with a child in an Irish-medium school.

Mrs McCanney: Our referral process is open to any sector and school, so we receive referrals from Irish-medium education. As Fiona said, we are currently working with that young person.

Dr McCaffrey: We have Irish speakers on the team as well.

Mr Sheehan: OK, thanks.

Mr Brooks: Thanks for your presentation; I appreciate it. It is good to have you along, with us having been down to Middletown.

You said that pedagogy and the understanding of autism have changed. For our understanding, is that change in the nuance of the training that you give? Are there fundamental changes that could inform the Committee in its considerations in the inquiry? What has changed in the understanding of autism and, indeed, how children who have autism are taught?

Mr Douthart: The strength of neuro-affirming practice is understanding lived experiences, including those of autistic adults who were students, and understanding the harm that some compliance-based therapies cause. When children experience verbal communication challenges, adults sometimes think that they know best rather than listening to the child. There are inconsistencies. Is hand-flapping a good thing? Should you tell an autistic child not to hand-flap, or should you let them hand-flap? Do teachers have any guidance on hand-flapping? That is how basic we are. That is a fundamental right: if a child or person wants to hand-flap, let them hand-flap. That is the way in which they regulate themselves or show enjoyment or happiness.

There is a much stronger evidence base for neuro-affirming behaviours and a strength-based approach, and that is what we are trying to bring to the fore. The uniqueness of Middletown is that we have the privilege of working in homes and schools with individual referrals for 10 months. No other service has that. We go into a school or home, and we take this into the community. We can read all the best practice from around the world, but we test whether it works and see the results, and that is what we can then scale with confidence. We talk about practice-based evidence not evidence-based practice, because our services continue to evolve given the feedback that we hear and the results that we see.

Would either of you like to comment on that or add something?

Mrs McCanney: I will just confirm that it is very much about coaching and training in neuro-affirming practices, but the most important thing is that our team is in a classroom modelling those practices when working with children and young people. There is that real-life modelling that we then take forward into training.

Mr Douthart: I think of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and staying at the forefront of innovative technologies to help parents. It is about how parents learn to go from having books to digital devices in the palms of their hands. You have to meet the learners' different learning styles, and that is what the inclusion symposium will look at. There are great practices in schools. It is about the uniqueness of what suits the individual child, not what suits the group in the utopian, authoritarian, idealistic view that was taken in the past.

Mr Brooks: I will move on to efficiencies in the system. I agree with what you said about it not being a teacher's job to research what is best practice throughout the world and about letting specialists do that. At the same time, if, for example, there is revalidation of doctors in the health sector, where I have worked, why would you not keep up to date with best practice in teaching as well? Is that what you are talking about as regards efficiencies in the system? We understand the budgetary challenges and the politics around those challenges that will probably play out over the next month or two. However, what are the low-hanging-fruit efficiencies that we can tackle first? We understand that there are not enough special schools, that some of the big things will cost an awful lot of money and that there are challenges that we need to meet, but what is the low-hanging fruit that we could deal with now?

Mr Douthart: It is about structure and — I will use that word again — consistency of teacher continuous professional development. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You want teachers to be enthused, engaged and self-propelled. At Middletown, we create online community hubs of resources through Padlet. It is not just a training session that you go to as a one-off. People want to join a community and a family where they can help each other and ask questions, where they can have that coach and mentorship framework. Those are the things that perpetuate but do not need wide system changes or policies. Those are hubs of expertise that we want to get behind. We cannot be in every school, but we can go into certain hubs, empower them with our knowledge and let them cascade it. We can be there as a sounding board and to provide advice. Those are some of the ways to do it without the big system trying to do it, but there has to be consistency: "Here is your reading library. Here is your framework".

We know about the Google generation. Unfortunately, there are a lot of private businesses trying to profiteer.

When teachers and parents are vulnerable, they want the golden bullet, but there is no magic wand. It is a life journey, especially in the world of autism and neurodivergence. When it comes to some of those things, we try to say, "Look, here are the facts. Here is the reading material. By all means, go and research and challenge, but here is the groundwork that we have done on some of those efficiencies and on how to save time". Teachers do not have time to research. We will do that hard work for them.

Mr Brooks: One of the challenges that I hear about from schools — this follows on from Pat's point — is that they feel that there needs to be mandatory training because, at times, they find it difficult to access resource when they need substitute teachers or to fill positions. Schools feel that teachers are intimidated by the idea of going into special education because they have not had the experience. That is the challenge. You hear quite often that part of the issue is that teachers do not feel that they have had the time to do the training that they would like to do. Does that need to be prioritised?

Mr Douthart: Our methodology is "Support first". A teacher may need support with a certain issue. We can talk about sensory regulation and all the theory in the world, but, if a child is stimming or headbutting a wall, the teacher needs the answer there and then. They need to support the child, and we have to make that support accessible. Then, if they want to join our postdoctoral team of researchers or sit on our panel, they are absolutely welcome to do so, but it is about support first.

Mr Brooks: Thank you very much.

Mrs Guy: Thanks, folks, for the evidence. It is always great to hear from you.

You talked about how important training is, so I have a quick question on that. There has been investment in teacher professional training in schools. Have you seen any increase in demand for your services on the back of that?

Dr McCaffrey: As well as that, Michelle, there has been a general increase in the number of children and young people who are being diagnosed and are seeking support. At Middletown, we certainly hear from schools. Since August 2025, we have provided training to around 7,000 education professionals in Northern Ireland. We certainly see those needs coming through. I do not know that those requests are necessarily tied to the teacher professional learning (TPL) fund. I can speak only about requests that come to Middletown. In August — the time when schools have a bit of time for TPL — we see a significant increase in requests. We work on an on-request basis whereby schools can contact us and request training. That happens quite a lot.

As I said, we are trying to move from transmission — just talking at teachers — to the idea of building communities. On the question about the low-hanging fruit in efficiencies, it is about building systems whereby you do not just go in and deliver training but ensure that there is a programme that follows and a community that people can become a part of. In Middletown, we have started a process of working in partnership with the EA on professional growth partnerships, and we will seek to develop that.

Mr Douthart: The TPL fund is a pot of money. We do not charge for our training, which is why we are in such high demand. That fund is not used for us, as we would be double-funded. They will be seeking to spend that money elsewhere.

Mrs Guy: That was just a point of curiosity. It is connected: the value of training and the fact that the Department is investing in that in schools is good synergy. I have no doubt that you are in high demand anyway.

Providing training to teachers is hugely important, but we are also aware that a level of expertise is needed in schools to supplement what teachers deliver so that children are able to achieve the outcomes that they need to achieve. Do you agree that such expertise needs to be available in the local impact teams (LITs) to ensure that we are not limiting interventions to teachers and that, where more expertise is required, it needs to be available in schools, particularly through the LITs?

Dr McCaffrey: Middletown is well placed to support the local impact teams, and we welcome seeing how that service will develop. From our perspective, we certainly have the expertise to support the professionals in the LITs. We provide a special service, as you say, and our engagement with services in the North and South gives us a unique perspective; indeed, we engage with services worldwide. We were heavily involved with the Autism Europe International Congress. We are involved with the International Society for Autism Research. There is a need for specific expertise, and we are well placed to support the LITs with that.

Mrs Guy: Great. This is my very last question. We have all commented on the constrained budget situation; what we do not talk about enough, when it comes to special educational needs, is the value of the investment in those kids and the progress that they make. We talk about the challenges all the time, so I have a concern that some of the narrative around SEN may be moving more to the cost and not enough about the value of the investment. Will you speak to that for us? Will you talk to us about why it is so important to invest in those kids and about the success stories? We do not hear enough of those.

Mrs McCanney: I am happy to take that question. Certainly, we are extremely privileged to experience so many success stories. One that comes to mind is, just recently, where a young person had been out of school for 19 months. Following a lot of investment from the parents, first of all, and 10 months of Middletown support, he is now successfully attending school. In fact, when the coordinator went to see him and to take him out of the classroom to have a bit of a catch-up with him, he did not want to leave the classroom because he was so immersed in the learning that he was doing. That is genuinely the kind of success story that we are so proud of: when the support takes place and you get those outcomes. Obviously, the investment there has resulted in his being back in school, in a class, and he does not need intensive services at home because he is fully engaged and will work towards qualifications and, all being well, will be a successful member of society. We certainly see those positive success stories. We see young people with whom we work move into third-level education and then, ultimately, into employment. So, again, the investment is in young people who, otherwise, as we so often see, unfortunately, are sitting in their bedrooms. With the right support, we are able to bring them back into society to be contributors to society. Those success stories are really important.

We work in homes and schools, as Stephen mentioned. When we work in a home, we are able to support and facilitate the parents to have the confidence, for example, to take their child or young person out to the shops or local leisure centre. Often, those parents have lost the confidence to support the young person through negative experiences in dysregulating environments. Our team is able to go out to support the parents to regain that confidence. They have the skills and the knowledge, so it tends to come down to confidence. When that young person is able to go back out into those environments and start to access clubs, societies and support groups again, that really takes the pressure off the more intensive services that the parents would otherwise have to access. You can look at our model. It is 10 months of intensive support, but, as you say, we get payback on that in the longer term, for sure.

Mrs Guy: Thank you very much, and thank you for the work that you do. I appreciate it.

Mr Burrows: Thank you. That was excellent. It was very impressive. I have three questions and will try to get through them quickly because I know that the Chair is firm on time and rightly so.

The first question is about whole-school support. Section 3.7.1 of your briefing states:

Given the increase in the number of children with SEN and the pivot towards specialist provision in mainstream schools (SPiMs), is that still adequate?

Mr Douthart: Jon, I would absolutely love to see more. I would love a couple of zeroes to be added to the number of school referrals. The report on our annual business plan is agreed by the Department. That obviously has a financial purse string attached to it in the number of schools that we can support.

Three individual referrals equal one whole-school model.

The time frame of 10 months of intensive support is exactly the same in a school. That school support in the whole-school model ranges from the bus drivers to the teams in the kitchens and from the classroom assistants to the teachers, so there is a genuine whole-school approach. The difference is that it is just not theory; we get our hands dirty. We are working with them, setting up sensory rooms and helping integration.

On scaling that work up and having a framework, one of our colleagues had an article published that is the most-read article in the 'Neurodiversity' journal. We have frameworks that we can comply with or send out consistently to all schools for them to engage with. Absolutely, we need more money and more investment. We know that purse strings are tight, but we need to think about how we stretch the resources for the whole-school model.

I am not sure whether that answers your question.

Mr Burrows: That is fine. I do not know whether you have seen the draft Budget, but what changes could Stormont make to ensure that your funding model is more stable and predictable so that you can plan long-term services?

Mr Douthart: Multi-year funding is key. We are an all-island organisation, and you will be aware that the Republic and Northern Ireland have different financial years. In order to make future-year commitments and agree business plans and trajectories in advance, multi-year funding would undoubtedly be helpful for us.

Mr Burrows: Very good. That reinforces the consensus.

Finally, on bureaucracy, what administrative and reporting requirements could be streamlined by Stormont to reduce your workload and allow you to focus more on the front line? Bureaucracy-wise, is there any waste that we could cut?

Mr Douthart: It is about having the bravery to say that less is more and doing it better. Instead of having a scattergun approach and hoping that something will work, it is about saying, "Here are our key objectives", holding our feet to the fire, if you will, and asking, "Have you delivered?". We are proud of our business plan. Every year, it continues to grow and stretch, and people want more for less. That is understandable, because of continuous improvement, but there is a limit. We talk about burnout in the system: the same burnout applies to my team, so I have to be protective of them and go, "We hear you, but let's be reasonable and let's have multi-year funding in order to build up capacity in the wider system". It is all about capacity building.

Mr Burrows: OK. Thank you. Happy new year to you all.

Mr Douthart: Thanks, Jon.

Mr Baker: Thank you. The session has been informative. A lot of the areas have been covered.

We have been back a couple of years, and, as you said, the SEN action plan was published nearly a year ago. Are you seeing any improvement system-wide? When I look at what I deal with in my constituency office, it feels as though the situation is getting worse, not to put a dampener on it and be negative. Whether it is placements, support or assessments, it seems as though more barriers have gone up. How much involvement do you have with the new LITs that have been set up? I am starting to hear that there are problems bubbling with those as well. Again, it feels as though you are always firefighting. What is your view on that? I want hope, and I want to come out the other side, but it does not feel as though that will happen.

Mr Douthart: It is a five-year plan. We are still in year 1, talking about planning and the implementation stages. As I said in my opening remarks, within the last 24 hours, we have had an agreement in principle to proceed with one of our delivery objectives.

I still think that there are opportunities for collaborative agreements with stakeholders and not working in silos. There are opportunities to put firm budgets in place. That is only reasonable. We are not there yet. We are in the first of five years. The Committee asked how much money has been spent in year 1: we are all aware of the nuances in some of the numbers.

There was a misconception about the EA's LITs. Were they going to happen anyway, or are they part of the SEN reform agenda? There are 125 action points in the SEN reform agenda: are they all being achieved? Some are yet to start. I hold hope, but we should be brave and go, "If it's not working, if there's too many objectives or if our budget has to change, it has to change, because there is no point in thrashing out something for five years if it's not working". People should listen to the feedback and, if they need to, take action and change direction. That is just my opinion, Danny.

As for seeing a difference on the ground maybe —.

Mrs McCanney: Yes, our relationship with LITs on the ground is strong. We had a strong relationship with Autism Advisory and Intervention Service (AAIS) — our referral agent for learning support and assessment — and that has moved smoothly into LITs. We are receiving referrals based on the criteria. The autism leads and I worked on the referral criteria that moved into LITs, and there is also an agreement from specialist provision on how to refer through that process. That has worked well each month since the LITs were set up.

One of the key things that have to happen within the 10 months of support is that the first-level service has to stay involved. Although Middletown becomes the lead for that 10-month period, we want to maintain that relationship and ensure that, for all the young people with whom we work, the staff member from the LIT maintains the relationship. They attend the meetings, as required. When it comes to referrals, that relationship on the ground is strong, and it has been fluent in the new system.

Mr Baker: We have had the crisis with placements, which seems to get worse every year, and I suspect that this year will be the same. Do you see the misplacement of children having a detrimental impact on the whole school set-up? For example, children might have to travel a long distance or go into a classroom that they should not be in, meaning that they end up on a reduced timetable. One of my frustrations is that they do not seem to be factored in. They are sitting at home, but they are almost being marked "in". They are like the invisible, forgotten children.

Mrs McCanney: Often, the children with a high level of support need are referred to us. Often, we support children who are on a reduced school day or, in some cases, are not attending school at all, because Middletown can provide that bridge between home and school. So, yes, that would happen.

For us, the figure might be slightly skewed, in that we see the children with a reduced school day or the non-attenders because we are the service that can go out to the home and support the parents in getting the child back to school and the school in creating an environment that the child wants to leave the house to go to. We see those children, yes, but we see really positive outcomes with them. We see the specialist provision and the mainstream classes that want to change the structures and systems that they use so that the child wants to come into school. I cannot think of a time when we have worked in a classroom where staff do not want that child to come in or do not want to support our work.

Mr Baker: I suppose that, if you get the support, it is like a golden ticket. I refer to the number of children who fall through the gaps in the system. It is completely failing them, and they do not get the support from you. They might be just sitting at home, completely out of the system.

Mr Douthart: We are acutely aware of that topic, hence our best practice day at the end of the month will be about emotionally based school non-attendance, but you want to support the system so that it does not get to that place. "Having the right support in the right place from the right people at the right time" is a nice phrase, but dealing with that starts with asking, "Can we build buildings? Do we have enough money for capital projects? Can we do them?". No, we cannot. Can we change the hearts and minds of every school leader and teacher so that they want to welcome children with special educational needs into their school? Yes. What are we going to do about the schools that say, "Actually, there is no place for that child"? That is where the tough decisions have to be made.

There are certain things to do with having freedom within a framework. We need to strengthen the frameworks that we give the school population. If we are serious about inclusion for all, we must go for inclusion for all and support what we can. That support starts with educational professionals and the leadership in boards of governors in schools. That is not within Middletown's remit, Danny, but we will be there. When we get the nod, we will provide training for them or they are welcome to come to us. We want that consistency so that every child is offered the same support.

Mr Baker: It is a fair point. If there is not £1·7 billion, there has to be a plan B. Thank you.

Mr Middleton: Thank you all for your evidence. It has been very informative.

Going back to the training point, Fiona, did I pick this up right? You mentioned training 7,000 teaching professionals in 2025: is that right?

Dr McCaffrey: I misspoke. I was going to change the record: it was 2,700. I looked down quickly and saw a "2".

Mr Middleton: That is fine. Neither my hearing nor my memory is great.

It was 2,700: how does that compare with the figure for 2024? Have you figures that show the trajectory?

Dr McCaffrey: It is consistent. The numbers are probably creeping up because we have increased our digital capacity. We now offer teachers a range of ways to engage. In the past three or four years, our online capacity has really increased. We have done a lot of work on online supports. Stephen mentioned Padlet. Teachers can engage with us in a number of ways. Where you are meeting people at different points, you are increasing your capacity and numbers in that way.

Yes, I think that there is an increase. Our working partnerships on the ground with the EA are really helping to increase our interface with teaching professionals across Northern Ireland.

Mr Middleton: Have you any concerns about that online training experience versus the face-to-face training experience? Have you concerns about the impact that the training is having? I can speak only from a personal perspective: I prefer face-to-face engagement. That is not always practical, given the vast number of people whom you are trying to train and the resources that you have. Do you see that having a detrimental impact on those involved in the training?

Dr McCaffrey: We evaluate all our training. Everyone who attends Middletown training is asked specific questions. We ask what the impact of our online training has been. There is not an awful lot of difference between how people rate face-to-face training and online training. There is a balancing point between accessibility and the quality of the face-to-face engagement. That is the balancing act that we try to perform. We want to meet people where they are.

I agree with you: by and large, face-to-face engagement is where you want to be. As Stephen said, last May, we had a best practice day in Belfast. I will not misspeak this time: there were 300 people at it. That was strong face-to-face engagement. Some of the feedback that we got on that day was that it was just really nice to see other people.

Mr Middleton: Absolutely.

Dr McCaffrey: It is a balance.

Mr Middleton: It is. When it comes to building online communities afterwards between those who do the training — as you say, a lot of it is about sharing experiences, lived experience and all that — what is preventing that? I assume that building those online community hubs that you referred to, Stephen, is fairly low-cost. What prevents those from existing now? Are there legislative gaps that prevent that type of community from being set up?

Dr McCaffrey: I cannot speak to any legislative gaps. There is possibly a communication gap. Sometimes, I speak to people and they say, "Oh, I didn't know that existed". It comes back to that idea of consistency: there needs to be consistency in communication. The Minister is working on TransformED. Part of that will be a consistent way for teachers to get that communication. I think that the Minister is working on a digital portal and is hoping to streamline communication. That will really help.

Mr Middleton: Thank you very much.

Ms Hunter: Thank you so much. It is great to see you all again.

I have two questions. You touched on emotional and anxiety-based school avoidance and made some really valid points. The pupil attendance strategy is live until March. I am mindful that you are the experts in the field of neurodivergence and non-attendance at school. I am curious: is there anything that we, as a Committee, are missing? Is there anything that we have overlooked or that we should feed back to the Department? Danny mentioned reduced timetables. Previously, we had a session in which the EA was unable to clarify what data or monitoring exists on reduced timetables and how many of those relate to young people with neurodivergence or special educational needs. Does that concern you? Have you come across that? Can you give us any feedback?

Mrs McCanney: Like anybody who works in health or education, we are concerned about the obvious increase in the number of young people who are just too anxious to attend school. Maybe, looking not so much at what is missing, the key factor for success in that will be greater collaboration between Health and Education in meeting the needs of those young people. Whilst it appears to be an education issue primarily, because the goal is to get them into school, which sits with Education, the reason that they cannot access school is anxiety, which is obviously a health need.

Health is doing excellent work in meeting the mental health needs of those young people, and Education is doing excellent work in trying to create school environments that will be more accessible for neurodivergent young people. However, those two strands need to come together so that, when a young person cannot leave the house to go to school, there is a joined-up approach from Health and Education services.

We are definitely working in that direction. I have had conversations recently with education welfare staff and educational psychologists, and we did some training alongside Beechcroft's services. Much more collaborative work is definitely happening in that area, and that can only be a good thing for those children and young people.

Mr Douthart: Also, Cara, from a system point of view, has the school done everything that it can to support the child? How do we robustly measure that? What are the trends? We talk about the synching of data: there is some data that we absolutely need. Once we have that data, what is the plan? What is that transition? At the minute, it is all or nothing: either you go to school or you do not, and that is it.

Let us look at other jurisdictions. I am not sure whether you are familiar with iScoil, which is a transition service, and some of the other support in the South. We need to think differently about remote services to keep children in education, although it might not be in the traditional sense of a classroom environment in a physical setting. Online services could be particularly useful for transition, because a child might not want to cross the door strip of the school but might engage with the teacher through some online learning and take some small steps to get encouragement and trust. A school's sense of belonging does not need to be in a school; the school community should extend beyond that.

Ms Hunter: That is really fascinating. I have not looked at the issue on a cross-border basis to see what is being done in the South. I really respect the work that you do on an all-island basis.

Mrs McCanney: It must be best practice day, Cara.

Ms Hunter: As a Committee, we can definitely look at that.

Lastly, if you could change three things, what would those be? You have talked a lot about frameworks and the importance of training, but, looking at wider issues around policy and system design, what would improve outcomes for children with autism and their families?

Mr Douthart: Wow, what a big —.

Ms Hunter: How long is a piece of string?

Mr Douthart: What a big question on outcomes for children. I think it would be reassurance and people knowing what the journey looks like. From speaking to parents, we know of the transition and the cliff edge. We talk about raising the compulsory school education age, but what is happening for children with special educational needs? There are some strong and big questions that need answers, and that is where I look for leadership in this room. Services such as Middletown will help to provide training and all of the support and care, but it is the legislative differences that will really help the system. It is about being brave and making bold decisions in that area, be they around transitions from primary and post-primary, how to find a place and the knowledge that alternatives are out there. Every person just wants the best for their child, and a lot of teachers in schools just want the best for their pupils.

Ms Hunter: At Middletown, you have done amazing work in guiding parents through what to expect.

That is it from me. Thank you so much. You talked about the need for reassurance, and, as a Committee, we should tap into that and provide it for families. Those are all my questions. Thank you all for the work that you do.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Thank you, Cara.

Stephen, your last point was on the need for legislative change. From your engagement in the system, is legislative change required, or is there a statutory duty on the Department or the EA that hinders progress for children? Can you see something that clearly needs addressed?

Mr Douthart: I think of the transition pathways when a child with special educational needs hits 14. When it comes to signing up to what, we say, we already do through career and transition pathways and services, how robustly do we measure if those actually take place? How many of the goals and outcomes of individual learning plans for children are achieved?

It is a matter pressing "Pause", looking at the reality and taking on the facts.

Look at the educational age for children with special educational needs in other jurisdictions. We know that campaigns like Caleb's Cause have been great in bringing the issue to the fore. However, at some stage we have to say, "OK, we hear that and acknowledge it", and decide either to make the change or go against doing so. At the minute, we are in a perpetual cycle, while children and young people are becoming members of society.

What is the purpose of education? It is to equip children for wider society. We can do all the front-end work, but, unless we do the back-end work, we will miss a big part of what is important. There could be legislative change to be stronger on that and on the transition into adult services.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is really helpful. Thank you, Stephen.

Mrs Mason: Thank you very much for the presentation. There are probably 10 questions that I could ask you, but I will go back to a couple of points that have been raised.

We have heard from SENCOs and teachers the whole way through our inquiry. Time and again we hear, "In theory, this sounds brilliant. It sounds as though it will tick all the boxes, but the reality does not match that". Stephen, a couple of times you mentioned having to listen to SENCOs, teachers, principals and classroom assistants: unfortunately, we are hearing that they do not feel that they are being listened to. Possibly, while we are in year 1, things have got off on the wrong foot. One of the things that have been raised with us is the referral system, how it works and how it impacts on SENCOs. We have started off on this course: what can be done now by the Department to bring those people on board and regain a bit of trust in the process?

Mr Douthart: People need to feel listened to and to hear their words being repeated to them. You hear the SENCOs and acknowledge what they say, but it is for the Department's officials and the wider system to get together and say, "OK, this is what we are going to do about that".

The Department recently asked schools for projects and nominations. I know that they have a large workload, but I encourage any of those SENCOs to register for some of those and speak up. Sometimes, we have to follow the system and the process. The little pockets of feedback are important because we have to keep talking. The real worry for me comes when people stop talking and leave the system. We cannot get to that point. We should welcome them, give them a safe environment and encourage that communication. For me, that is just basic leadership.

Mrs Mason: Unfortunately, we are hearing that people are leaving the sector.

One of the other things that were mentioned was teachers choosing to go into special educational needs as a career. That is not the case any more: you do not choose to go into special educational needs because, in mainstream education, you are now dealing with it anyway. It is now the case that, if you are going into teaching, you are going into special educational needs.

One case that I dealt with over the Christmas break was that of a relatively young teacher who had received only one module of training in this area. That person is a sub teacher, so they are being dropped into different classes with different dynamics. There will be a cohort of teachers who are not in a school full-time and do not avail themselves of ongoing training. How do we deal with that or capture that cohort of people? The teacher told me that, over the Christmas break, they were going to do loads of research on different practices. They were also looking at the way that things are done in the South to try to equip themselves.

Mr Douthart: Yes, Cathy. I go back to the simple example of retail at Christmas and people stacking shelves. It is our duty as public servants in the system to provide that support to them. They should not have to ask for that support. We need to change the system and provide that training for them.

As we have said, one in five children is neurodivergent. Every teacher is now a teacher of SEN. We need to change the mindset. If they do not want to join the system — if it is too complex or they want to read from a textbook — they should not. However, we know that it is about pastoral care, and we are thankful that the Northern Irish community is engaged with teaching and wants to make a difference. We have to change the process, how we provide support and how we induct teachers. We stop for summer breaks.

Teachers are already doing things, and Middletown can provide support. They may not be able to come to our site at the moment, but we can meet them online or somewhere else, and we can provide support over the summer months. There are ways and means.

Dr McCaffrey: Cathy, I will follow on from Stephen's remarks by saying that a neuro-affirming approach will embrace all children and all needs. Middletown has really taken the lead in Northern Ireland on understanding neurodiversity and having a neuro-affirming approach, which sees diversity and difference rather than disability. My advice to the people you are speaking to is this: you can attend Middletown training; you do not have to work in a specific school. As I explained to your colleague, we have online sessions, coaching sessions and face-to-face sessions. As Jill said, we have an upcoming best practice day. It is our autonomy, as a cross-border arm's-length body (ALB), that allows us to create those learning opportunities for everybody — for grandparents, cousins, family members, teachers who are in a school and teachers who are outside a school.

You mentioned research. Research features very much in TransformED. Middletown has always had research at the heart of our work. The person whom you spoke to is doing their own research, but they can drop us an email, and we will be happy to support them. We have online research bulletins and an online journal that is completely co-produced with autistic researchers. We are a neuro-affirming organisation, and we have a range of resources that can support the very people whom you are speaking about.

Mr Douthart: We make it harder than it needs to be.

Mrs Mason: I have one last question.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Briefly.

Mrs Mason: It is just to ask for the details of the session in the CityNorth Hotel that you mentioned.

Mrs McCanney: That is our best practice day on supporting emotionally based school non-attendance. It is on Thursday 22 January. Everybody is welcome, but you will need to register, otherwise you will not get a lunch.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Will you circulate that information or send it to the Clerk so that we get it?

Mrs McCanney: Yes, absolutely. We would be delighted to see any of you at that event. Cara talked about sharing best practice across both jurisdictions, which is exactly what that day is set up to do. Presentations will be split 50:50 between professionals in Northern Ireland and professionals in the Republic of Ireland.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): I will add the inclusion symposium. Both of those events are likely to be of interest to members. It would be good if you could share that information.

Mr Douthart: People listen to us, but listening to those who are on the ground every day in a school carries more weight and power. People think, "If they are doing it, we can do it". It is about harnessing that positive energy and creating the momentum ourselves.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is great. This has been a great session. There are so many more things that everyone would like to ask. The Deputy Chair wants to come in, and I have one more question.

Mr Sheehan: I am just looking for clarity. You mentioned hand-flapping and stimming: is there a difference between the two?

Mr Douthart: Fiona can pick up on that. We have a lot of children who make sensory eye movements when they are stimming, so that might include head movements. Flapping can be sensory body movements. They are noted as two distinct things in sensory regulation.

Dr McCaffrey: The term "stimming" is an abbreviation of "self-stimulatory behaviour". That is fairly self-explanatory. We all engage in self-stimulatory behaviour, but the term "stimming" is used a lot in the autism community. The behaviour varies from person to person. Sometimes it involves hand movement, and sometimes it does not. It is variable. It is not exclusive to autistic people; all of us engage in self-soothing behaviours.

Mr Sheehan: Is hand-flapping completely different from stimming?

Dr McCaffrey: It is individualised and differs from person to person. Some people say that people who engage in self-stimulatory behaviour may move their hands.

Mr Sheehan: The reason why I ask is that, some time ago, we heard evidence at the Committee about an autistic child who was in a mainstream class and was stimming. The child was using their hands, and their hands were tied to their chair with a school bag.

Mr Douthart: Everyone wants to express themselves. We will know that there is true change in society when there are members of the Committee hand-stimming. That will be when we have truly made a difference and will be a truly inclusive society. No more will it be the odd person; the Committee will be representative of those one in five people and people will not have to mask. We encourage people to be themselves and not to mask. Think about that. Given the numbers, there is probably — I will leave it there.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Thank you, Stephen. I want to ask a question to finish, because, if we have you here, we may as well get the best evidence that we can. We are very short on time.

You are embedded in schools and are seeing what can work for neurodiverse children and young people. One of the vexed issues across the inquiry has been the role of classroom assistants: is an adult being assigned to a child on a one-to-one basis the gold standard, or do we need to look to other approaches and a reformed model? We heard clear evidence from the EA that we need a reformed model of support for children with a statement, particularly at the point at which they are formally statemented. I appreciate that I am not giving you much time to answer, but do you have a view on that, or is it down to what is best for the child?

Mr Douthart: It is about what is best for the child. Inevitably, in certain circumstances, one-to-ones will always be required, but I want to see a certain level of expertise and career pathways for classroom assistants being developed. We should have experts in different areas and empower them to do that. That may mean that there are fewer experts, but more thought needs to be given to that rather than it being a one-size-fits-all approach. For me, it is not "either/or"; it is "and".

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): It is about having a flexible model of support —

Mr Douthart: Absolutely.

Mrs McCanney: Absolutely.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): — rather than a particular model that applies to everybody.

Mr Douthart: Yes.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is really helpful.

Thank you so much for your time: it has been a really useful evidence session, so we appreciate it. Will you send through the dates of the two events? There will be interest in attending from members.

Mrs McCanney: We will do.