Previously, the AoN involved a team (usually physio, OT, SLT, psychology) assessing a child to get insight into the nature of their difficulties (2/n)
A thread on the Assessment of Need: the statutory process by which children whose parents have concerns about potential disability can be assessed.
The process has recently been changed by the HSE in a manner that is frankly appalling.
Explanation: (1/n)
Working with colleagues to finalise report on psychologists experiences of AON PTA
— Mark Smyth (@psychpolis) January 17, 2021
Prelim findings are conclusive & stark but not unexpected
\u27a1\ufe0fDoes not meet children's needs
\u27a1\ufe0fIs not fit for purpose
\u27a1\ufe0fWill result in longer intervention W/L
\u27a1\ufe0fShould be suspended immediately pic.twitter.com/7nP59B4hLP
Previously, the AoN involved a team (usually physio, OT, SLT, psychology) assessing a child to get insight into the nature of their difficulties (2/n)
Function is more important than diagnosis, but in our system diagnoses get you support.
(4/n)
In many parts of the country, including Dublin, this almost never happens.
91% of children do not get their assessments on time. (5/n)
https://t.co/LQseHEWj3u
In Jan 2020, the HSE produced a new Standard Operating Procedure for AoN.
It reduces the previous assessment involving multiple professionals to a single assessment lasting a maximum of 90 minutes, regardless of the child's needs. (6/n)
This is left for community disability teams, whose assessments are not subject to legal time limits (so the HSE cannot be sued).
https://t.co/zp5pgO0AHV
Instead, the HSE have reduced the AoN to a meaningless box ticking exercise which children must go through before being moved to another waiting list with no legal time limit. (9/n)
It is apparently more important that statutory obligations are "met" on paper than that children's needs are actually met in real life.
This is a State apology in waiting.
More from For later read
I’ve asked Byers to clarify, but as I read this tweet, it seems that Bret Stephens included an unredacted use of the n-word in his column this week to make a point, and the column got spiked—maybe as a result?
Four times. The column used the n-word (in the context of a quote) four times. https://t.co/14vPhQZktB
For context: In 2019, a Times reporter was reprimanded for several incidents of racial insensitivity on a trip with high school students, including one in which he used the n-word in a discussion of racial slurs.
That incident became public late last month, and late last week, after 150 Times employees complained about how it had been handled, the reporter in question resigned.
In the course of all that, the Times' executive editor said that the paper does not "tolerate racist language regardless of intent.” This was the quote that Bret Stephens was pushing back against in his column. (Which, again, was deep-sixed by the paper.)
Stephens goes on in his column (which never saw light of day) to cite famous Lee Atwater quote that uses racial slur, and which NYT has cited \u201cat least seven times.\u201d
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) February 11, 2021
"Is this now supposed to be a scandal?\u201d he asks.
...
Four times. The column used the n-word (in the context of a quote) four times. https://t.co/14vPhQZktB
That is correct. In his draft he quotes Atwater using the word (4 times) and he does not redact it.
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) February 11, 2021
For context: In 2019, a Times reporter was reprimanded for several incidents of racial insensitivity on a trip with high school students, including one in which he used the n-word in a discussion of racial slurs.
That incident became public late last month, and late last week, after 150 Times employees complained about how it had been handled, the reporter in question resigned.
In the course of all that, the Times' executive editor said that the paper does not "tolerate racist language regardless of intent.” This was the quote that Bret Stephens was pushing back against in his column. (Which, again, was deep-sixed by the paper.)
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I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The famous \u201cLucy\u201d, an early ancestor of modern humans (Australopithecus) that lived 3.2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, displayed in the national museum in Addis Ababa \U0001f1ea\U0001f1f9 pic.twitter.com/N3oWqk1SW2
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2018
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
