The Department of Education has agreed to extend the home tuition grant to parents of autistic children who have arranged for tuition providers with qualifications other than teaching qualifications.
Over the past two weeks the parents received letters from the department informing them that their grant, which is provided to autistic children for early education intervention, would be withheld unless they employed a qualified primary school teacher as a tutor.
This caused concern among parents of autistic children, the majority of whom rely on tutors trained in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) rather than primary school teachers.
"Concern had arisen that the information provided in respect of some of the tuition providers retained by parents under this scheme was incomplete and, in some cases, suggested that certain tuition providers had limited formal qualifications," said a spokesman from the department.
Following a number of complaints to the department it was decided that the funding would be sanctioned for the coming school term, allowing the department time to assess cases individually.
Letters have been sent to the parents affected to clarify the issue.
Ireland Autism Action yesterday welcomed the move. "I'm just glad that we've been able to allay a lot of the fears and anxieties surrounding this. It's a good day for the parents of autistic children and we don't get many of those," said chief executive Kevin Whelan.
About 380 grants are provided for pre-school children with autism, at a total cost of €7 million per year.