Sligo school promotes integration of autistic children

A Co Sligo primary school is holding a series of events this week to promote the integration of autistic children into mainstream schools.

Among the events was a special forecast by RTÉ weather presenter Louise Heraghty.

She is a past pupil of Our Lady of Mercy Primary School, and she gave pupils the opportunity to do some weather reporting along with her 6-year-old son James who is neurodivergent.

There are well over 400 pupils attending Our Lady of Mercy school in Sligo town. Around 30 have autism and numbers will increase next term.

The level of support and staff training is paying off as the unique strengths and needs of these children are being recognised and nurtured.

This was a special day for the school as children got to meet the weather presenter on RTÉ’s News2Day team. Louise Heraghty was delighted to be back in her old school.

“I love doing the weather on the kids news and here at the Mercy school the pupils watch News2Day in the classroom, so it was lovely to give something back and be part of their Autism Awareness Week.

“My son James has autism, and he is here in junior infants and it’s just an amazing initiative. It’s a brilliant idea. All the kids get a chance to do the weather which was fun. You can see how much these children have progressed as a result of being integrated in mainstream school. Their confidence has soared.”

Spirits were high after reporting on the weather and pupils loved the experience. Each child took it in turns to do a weather report with Louise on hand to provide tips of the trade.

The benefits of integrating children with autism into mainstream schools has been a win-win all round.

Robbie Cawley and Evie Kenny are in 5th class at Our Lady of Mercy NS and say there are benefits for all pupils learning and working together. Evie says the mix of children works really well.

“We love having autistic children as our pals. They benefit our school so much and this is Rainbow Day which means everybody is unique in their own way. And all of us love the sensory garden. It’s a quiet place to calm down if you get upset or angry.”

Robbie Cawley has great regard for Mateusz Lipinski who partakes in some of his mainstream classes

“Mateusz benefits from being in different environments and being around more people. And we benefit too.”

Robbie chuckles when he explains how smart his pal is and how he answers most of the questions.

“He’s really amazing at Maths, so he is.”

Claire McNally is Special Needs Co-ordinator at the school. She says the success of the integration model is plain to see.

“Students are flourishing in this environment and we’ve been accommodating neurodivergent children for 20 years and we’re opening a third class in September. The advances are huge since we first started out and I suppose that’s what this week is about.

“It’s celebrating all that is wonderful about autism. Seeing the children reporting on the weather is an enormous achievement. It looks easy but the amount of work to get to this stage cannot be underestimated.”

The school say they are celebrating Cineáltas Week. That’s the Irish word for kindness, friendships, anti-bullying, wellbeing and autism awareness.