Autistic children in schools across Northern Ireland are having to wait up to six months to receive support for their condition, it emerged yesterday.

An inspection of the autism advisory service run by the education boards also warns that current funding cannot meet increasing demand — as the number of children diagnosed with the disability continues to soar.

Arlene Cassidy, chief executive of the charity Autism NI, said that the number of school age children with autism has quadrupled from 900 to 4,000 in the last five years and many services for children are now overwhelmed.

“The government needs to urgently rethink its model of provision,” she said.

The survey of the Inter-Board Autistic Spectrum Disorder Advisory Service was commissioned by the Department of Education and carried out by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) in October.

A team of inspectors visited around 67 schools and interviewed principals, teachers, autism advisors, senior managers of the inter-board service, parents and pupils.

As of June 2007, 3,761 children with autistic spectrum disorder were known to the ASD service.

The majority are educated in mainstream schools (63 per cent) while 16 per cent are enrolled in schools for children with severe learning difficulties.

Autism is a developmental disorder which affects the areas of the brain responsible for communication, imagination and social interaction.

Individuals with autism will have problems in one, two or all of these areas and 25 per cent will have an accompanying learning disability.

The inspection found evidence of “the good, very good and sometimes excellent work of the ASD advisory team across the boards” but also points to areas where improvements need to be made — including inconsistencies in provision and gaps in pre-school provision.

The report says: “The increasing demands made of the ASD services are evidenced in the growing waiting lists across the services with some schools, pupils and parents waiting up to six months or more for support.”

Access to home intervention support is also variable.

The report continues: “Support to parents varies, it is mostly infrequent and time bound and some parents cannot access home visits. In this situation, the benefits of early and cohesive support may be lost and parental reassurance is not fostered.”

The inspectorate recommends the development of a regional advisory service for autism and an autism strategic plan for Northern Ireland.

“Autism NI is grateful for this inspection and the hard work that is being done by the ASD advisory teams,” Ms Cassidy said.

“The report has, however, provided powerful evidence that there is still a lack of regional coordination across the health, education and voluntary sector in relation to working with children and families affected by autism.

l Does Northern Ireland need new specialist autism schools? See the education page in tonight’s Public Sector Jobfinder.