Thousands of pupils who may be suffering from dyslexia are having to wait for up to a year before they receive an assessment and support, it has emerged.
Dyslexia is believed to affect about 8 per cent of Irish children. However, due to a shortage of educational psychologists, children are currently having to wait for between six months and a year before being assessed.
The Dyslexia Association of Ireland, which carries out assessments, said it had a waiting time of between seven and nine months. Private psychologists contacted by The Irish Times said they had waiting lists of between six and 12 months.
The State's own agency in the area, the National Educational Psychological Service, refused to disclose its waiting times, stating that it did not operate on the basis of lists of children.
If a child has severe dyslexia, his or her school may need to call in a learning support teacher or a resource teacher. The resource teacher provides one-on-one tuition, while learning support teachers take small groups of children for classes two or three times a week, mainly to improve their reading or writing.
Parents are becoming increasingly frustrated at what they consider is inadequate support from the Department of Education. However, the Department says assessments are a matter for the National Educational Psychological Service.
The other matter causing concern to parents is the implementation of learning support guidelines for dyslexic children.
Children must be in the bottom 10 per cent of their peers for reading ability before their school can be given help. Only children in the bottom 2 per cent bracket are entitled to help from a resource teacher.
Ms Anne Hughes, director of the Dyslexia Association, said the rigid enforcement of these guidelines was creating a major problem for schools and parents.
"There are many bright children who are severely under-performing and so are frustrated and difficult, but because their literacy does not fall into the bottom 10 per cent of their age group, they cannot get the help they need," she said.