'I don't know what to do'- Mother of autistic child with no school place this term

A mother of two living in Dublin is left with no options as her autistic son is denied a school place for the current academic year.

Her son is 15 years old and should be going into transition year but the family were told by the school that there is no spaces left this time around.

The mother said in an exclusive interview that her son who was diagnosed with autism was expelled from school last year.

He then waited five months for another school offer so that he could go on and complete his Junior Certificate exams.

After completing third year the same school denied him a place in Transition Year because they said they were full up.

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The mother said that she applied to get her son into so many schools already with no luck.

"Last year we applied for about 20 schools and of course there's no places," she said.

"We're hoping to get a school place somewhere near home so it's easier for him...but for now we don't know yet so he's staying at home....I don't know...I don't know what to do to be honest with you.....we've been asking everyone," the mother said.

She also said that she had sent a letter to the education welfare office with no help.

"I don't think they have enough resources to look after autistic children...we have had to kind of do everything ourselves," she said.

The mother explained that for her son and many other autistic children can suffer greatly with their mental health and schools don't have enough support in place.

"They just punish them you know....if you're not fitting in you have to get out of the school and they just expel them for being different....for being more difficult," she said.

"The school hasn't tried their best," she said. "They just went the short way and just got rid of him."

The mother also said that autistic children can suffer with confidence issues and that's why they may refuse to go to school themselves and it can impact their school attendance.

"It's very important for them to feel safe and that they have friends...if they feel out of place...it's very difficult for them to have motivation to go school," she concluded.