<p>
	Parents of special needs children were left furious after a letter was circulated &quot;in error&quot; advising that speech and language therapy (SLT) services for schools would cease this month.</p>
<p>
	The letter, from Ballymun Road-based St Michael&#39;s House, claimed that the HSE recruitment ban meant that new therapists could not be hired to fill vacancies.</p>
<p>
	It informed parents that services could, therefore, not be provided for children in the Support Teams for Education in Mainstream Schools (STEMS) programme and would end in August this year.</p>
<p>
	However, after Fianna Fail&#39;s Colm Keaveney publicly made representations about the situation, the institution claimed that the letter was sent in error.</p>
<p>
	The letter, written by Caroline Howoth, the SLT manager at St Michael&#39;s, concluded that it was not possible to provide SLT cover so support in STEMS would cease from August 2014.</p>
<p>
	Mary O&#39;Connor, clinic manager at the institution, told the Herald there had been a resolution with the HSE.</p>
<p>
	&quot;It went out in error, St Michael&#39;s House has written to families to inform them that the letter went out in error,&quot; she said.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/special-needs-cut-letter-sent-in-error-30543803.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/special-needs-cut-letter-sent-in-error-30543803.html</a></p>
