By Robbie Meredith

Copyright bbc

“Parents often feel that their children with SEN are an afterthought in the education system: scrambling for school placements, lack of support and little input from health,” she added.

Morrison attended Orangefield High School, which closed in 2014.

The rock star’s former primary school Elmgrove, which is nearby, has also been earmarked to become a special school.

The EA said there was a need for up to 6,000 more special school places by 2032, and it has looked at the increase needed in each council area.

Currently, there are just under 7,500 pupils in Northern Ireland’s 40 special schools.

But Education Minister, Paul Givan, has said that “our special schools have reached capacity”.

He has appealed for the executive to provide £1.7bn of capital funding for special educational needs.

“This is a societal obligation, we all have children across our constituencies that require our support,” he told the Good Morning Ulster programme.

“It’s why one of nine commitments of the programme for government is SEN, we need to see the funding follow that collective commitment.

“We need more than words when it comes to addressing SEN.”

Givan added the funding will also create 5,000 additional places for “mainstream” schools, on top of the 6,000 places for SEN.