Speaker/Facilitator Bio:

This webinar will be hosted by Speech and Language Therapist Shannen Gaughan and Occupational Therapist Ciara Taaffe, who are members of the North East Inner City (NEIC) Multi-disciplinary Team in Dublin 1.

• In 2020, this multi-disciplinary team between NEPS and the HSE was established to provide services to children attending 10 NEIC primary schools. The project aimed to move from uni-disciplinary Primary Care services (OT/SLT/clinical psychology) to a MDT including an enhanced NEPS service providing a three tiered model of support in schools. The tiered model allows the MDT to provide support to all children in the NEIC schools with particular regard for children with additional needs.
• Being an area of disadvantage, with high rates of homelessness, single parent families, unemployment , and addiction, these schools already receive a high level of support through DEIS. However, there are also higher levels of neurodevelopmental disorders in this population that would not typically be seen in areas of social advantage. By utilising a more coordinated approach, children are able to access the right intervention at the right time. Interventions offered are evidence based and ever evolving in response to an identified need.