Introduction
I rarely write blog posts as long as this one.
I am rarely as passionate about a subject as I am about the provision of special educational needs and disability education, which is based on my experience as a governor and Chair of Governors of schools over fourteen years and as a university professor.
Precisely because of the length of this post, this is a TL;DR (too long; didn't read) summary:
TL;DR
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The Daily Telegraph, citing think-tank Policy Exchange, has claimed a “stretched definition of mental health” is costing £16bn a year, implying overdiagnosis of autism, ADHD and related needs.
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In reality, the problem is not “fragile” children but schools designed around a narrow neurotypical model that excludes many pupils. Neurodivergent children aren't disordered; they are wired differently, and the system fails them.
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The Policy Exchange report is ideological: it ignores children's needs, frames SEN as an administrative burden, and seeks cuts by forcing square pegs into round holes. This reflects neoliberal economics, which assumes homogeneity and cannot admit that diversity exists.
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Autism (≈2% of the population), ADHD (≈4%), and AuDHD (around 30% of autistic people) are long-standing human conditions. Recognising and supporting them is not indulgence but investment, with far higher returns than the costs of neglect.
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Without support, children disengage, underachieve, and face worsening mental health, shifting costs into the future. With support, they thrive, contribute, and increase productivity in our economy, which is a government goal.
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The right question isn't “why so many diagnoses now?” but “why were needs ignored for so long?” Recognition is overdue, not excessive.
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Policy must shift to:
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Inclusive teacher training, properly designed classrooms, and inclusive curricula
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Easier, earlier access to diagnosis and support
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Proper funding for early intervention
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Redefining success in schools around inclusive outcomes, not narrow exam scores
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Denying SEN support breaches children's right to education under the UK Human Rights Act. Supporting neurodiverse children is one of the wisest investments the UK can make.
Background
The Daily Telegraph had a headline yesterday that stated:
“A stretched definition of mental health is costing the UK £16 billion a year.”
The suggestion, which is based upon a report from the right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange, is that too many children are being diagnosed with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) relating to conditions such as autism, ADHD, AuDHD and related needs, with the consequent number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) multiplying beyond what the state can supposedly afford. The implication is that Britain has created a culture of unnecessary labelling of what is called disability, and that this is draining resources from schools, the NHS and the broader economy.
This argument might make a good headline that plays to the biases of the Telegraph, but it badly misrepresents what is really happening on this issue, in which I have taken an interest ever since I was a school governor and Chair of Governors, which I was for well over a decade when I lived in South London, and subsequently as a university professor.
The real problem in schools
The reality is that mainstream education in England, in particular (and the report referred to does relate to the English education system), is designed around a narrow idea of the “average” child. They are ones who can sit still, follow verbal instructions, manage transitions smoothly, cope with noise, and remember to hand in homework on time. That is fine for the majority of children (who are best described as neurotypical) who fit that description, but not all human beings are wired that way (those who are not are best described as neurodivergent).
Children who are autistic, have ADHD (the somewhat inappropriately named attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), or both (often referred to as AuDHD), face barriers that the system itself creates, but what most of them (some of the more extreme cases of autism apart) rarely have is a disorder or a disability. They are simply wired differently from other people, which makes them think, react, behave and learn in non-neurotypical ways, with the divergence in many, and maybe most, cases, being decidedly marked to the extent that the children in question feel like aliens in, and so are alienated from, the school environment into which they are placed for a great many years at the start of the lives.
The problem in my experience is that very few people who are neurotypical seem even to realise these issues, let alone that neurodiversity exists, or attempt to understand them. This issue is not about fragile children being labelled to secure “extra help.” It is about schools being designed for one type of learner and failing to meet the needs of many others as a consequence.
The problems in the Policy Exchange Report
In my opinion, the Policy Exchange report is entirely neurotypical in this respect. It provides no indication at all of any understanding of the reality of the situation of neurodiverse people or children.
If there is one overwhelming criticism to make of the report, it is that it is totally focused upon the administration of education, and that it pays almost no attention whatsoever to the needs of children. This was all too often a problem I encountered when I was chairing governors' meetings, where I frequently had to remind those present that our whole focus of attention should be on children, and not on admin or budgets, which were usually dominant on our agendas. It seems that Policy Exchange has fallen into this trap.
Worse, the whole intention of the report would seem to be to force neurodivergent and other children with either educational needs or disabilities to exist within mainstream education with little or no support provided, all to support an obviously predetermined agenda of cutting education costs, irrespective of the harm that might result as a consequence.
The result would be that these children, who might fairly be considered to be square pegs, are, in Policy Exchange's opinion, to be forced into round holes in the existing education system, into which they can never really fit. This is because that system will never meet their needs, and they will always be alienated from it, meaning that they will create difficulties for any class in which they are placed unless support is provided, which fact the report almost entirely ignores by effectively suggesting that they must simply acquire an improved psyche and an attitude that embraces success rather than failure, and that any problems they face are, as a consequence, seen to be those relating to an absence of moral fibre either on their part or on the part of their parents, rather than the fact that they are being placed into an education system which shows literally no awareness of their needs.
Understanding types of neurodiversity
I am concerned with the well-being of all children with special needs and disabilities. Saying that, I should stress that issues such as anxiety become increasingly prevalent as a child passes through the education system and a child's alienation from that system increases, whatever the cause, including the failure of far too many teachers to ever explain to a child the purpose of the education that they are being supplied with, which in my experience is an incredibly commonplace problem. However, those children with whom I have the most familiarity are in the following groups:
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Autistic students. These students often struggle with sensory overload, ambiguous social cues, and rigid learning structures. Without support like quiet zones, visual schedules, or clear communication, they can become overwhelmed, not due to lack of effort, but due to environmental mismatch. It is likely that at least 2% of the UK population has autism, but it is also very likely that this might be seriously understated, as the condition was rarely diagnosed in the past, so older people who have it may well be unaware of the fact and so are undiagnosed. This means that around 1.4 million people might have autism.
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Students with ADHD. These students face challenges with attention regulation, impulsivity, and executive functioning. In rigid, lecture-style classrooms with little movement or flexibility, they may appear “disengaged” or “disruptive,” when in fact their brains are coping with unrelenting stimulation. It is thought that at least 4% of the UK population has ADHD, although many might have no formal diagnosis. This means that around 2.8 million people might have ADHD. It has been more commonly diagnosed in boys than girls, but that might just be because it was once thought only to affect boys, and there is now no evidence that this is the case.
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AuDHD children. These students are those experiencing both autism and ADHD. They encounter intersecting pressures: sensory overload amplified by impulsive regulation struggles, and a need for both novelty and predictability. Masking their difficulties to fit into a world that does not understand them often leads to burnout, poor mental health, or school avoidance later on. This condition was only recognised a little over a decade ago, before when it was thought that autism and ADHD could not co-exist. It is now thought that at least 30% of people with autism also have ADHD.
I should stress that, although there is no clear evidence on how these conditions are passed from generation to generation, it is apparent that they have probably existed for as long as humanity has. They are like issues around gender orientation in this regard, and like them are not learned, and cannot be eliminated: they are not a choice, and nor is neurodivergence. They are just how those with these conditions are, which is why describing them as disorders is so inappropriate. Importantly, there is considerable evidence that neurodivergent people can add value. Those who are neurodivergent can be invaluable within organisations because they view the world in a different way, thereby adding depth to understanding and, very often, to innovation. GCHQ is presently recruiting them, deliberately.
The points noted above are the daily realities that many children and young people face in classrooms across the UK, including in our universities, where education is also commonly poorly adapted to the needs of neurodivergent students. To call diagnosing those with these conditions as “stretching definitions”, as Policy Exchange does, is to overlook the barriers that exist due to the way schools and other learning institutions are structured. That is the real issue we face: overdiagnosis is not.
Why SEN support matters
EHCPs and special educational need (SEN) recognition are not indulgences. They are instead educational investments with extraordinarily high rates of return.
They are the way we can make sure that children who learn differently through no fault of their own can access education on equal terms with their peers. They provide tailored support, validate children's experiences, and open the door to therapies, teaching strategies, and accommodations that let these pupils thrive.
Without such support, children are far more likely to disengage from school, underachieve academically, or suffer serious mental health difficulties. That does not save money; it shifts greater costs into the future through lost potential, reduced employability, and increased demands on health and social care.
According to Beyond Autism, each year the UK spends around £32bn in care and lost earnings to support autistic children and adults. With the right early intervention and support, autistic people can live more independently. This cost is much higher than that of meeting special educational needs.
A better framing
Instead of asking why so many children are now identified as needing support, what we should be asking is why the system failed to recognise these needs for so long?
Why, in other words, do we insist that the child must bend to the system, rather than adjusting the system to reflect the diversity of minds it serves?
The Telegraph treats this as a story about runaway costs. However, that is the wrong way to look at this; the real story is about our society's need to finally acknowledge the needs that have always existed. Far from there being overdiagnosis, what we are witnessing is an overdue recognition of neurodiversity. And if we did, this policy could pay for itself, handsomely, as noted above. In fact, what is clear is that if investment in managing the educational needs of those with autism, ADHD, and AuDHD was made that would yield an enormous return to the UK whilst achieving another of the government's goals, which is to get more people into employment, whilst increasing productivity because the vast majority of people with these conditions could work if their needs were properly understood, which process has to begin in the education system.
In other words, investing in children who think differently is not a drain on the resources of the UK. It would be one of the wisest investments it could make.
Why has this failure to understand arisen in that case?
Ever since both Reform and the Conservatives began their assault on special educational needs supply within English education, to which agenda Policy Exchange are now adding their weight, and which cause Wes Streeting is also supporting by claiming that he believes that there is over diagnosis of these conditions, I have wondered why it is these combined forces of neoliberalism are so determined to deny that these conditions exist.
I cannot, of course, prove that this is anything more than their passion for the austerity agenda, but I think it runs deeper than that.
It is important to recall that all these politicians, without exception, are wedded to a model of economics that assumes that optimal outcomes in this world are created when the rules of perfect competition are complied with.
Perfect competition, of course, assumes that the world is populated by homogeneous individuals who seek to buy homogeneous products from homogeneous suppliers in homogeneous marketplaces, with, unsurprisingly, homogeneous outcomes that are deemed optimally beneficial, even though such a situation has never been experienced in the history of humankind.
In that case, if education is considered to be a market supply, as neoliberals think, then they will, of course, consider that the input - a child - should be homogenous, and should be treated homogenously, with the intention that they should become a homogenous product designed to suit a homogenous consumer, who is the buyer of the homogenous labour that these students should be able to supply at the end of their school career. If we want an explanation for why Policy Exchange, which is also very clearly dedicated to the removal of the provision of special educational needs support from mainstream schools (which is their recommendation) and that the number of children who should receive any support for such needs should be reduced significantly, then I think that the best explanation for this ideological demand on their part is that they, too, are firm believers in the perfect world that the neoliberal economist has created as a work of fantasy to which all neoliberal thinkers must subscribe. In other words, for ideological reasons, they cannot accept that neurodivergent people exist precisely because non-typicality does not exist in their worldview.
The consequence is an enormous cost in the real world for all those children, their parents, their carers, their teachers because those children are not wired neurotypically and do not, therefore, fit into the world view of the neoliberal politician who cannot stand the idea that there might be people with differing views on this planet who might, as a consequence, one day even choose to challenge them because they do not accept the interpretation of the world that those neoliberals promote.
You might disagree with this interpretation, but that is how I explain the quite extraordinary attacks that are taking place on the rights of children, families, teachers, schools and others, all of whom I know care about the well-being of children who have special educational needs, disabilities, and neurodivergent conditions.
Policy conclusions
If we are serious about this, then we need to:
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Invest in inclusive mainstream education. This requires:
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Better teacher training. Most especially for neurotypical teachers, so that they have insight into the needs of neurodivergent children in their care.
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Better classroom design.
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Appropriate curriculum development to recognise neurodiversity as a given, and not as an exception.
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Simplify access to support. This would require that:
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Families should not have to battle for EHCPs to secure basic needs for their children.
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A more universal approach to providing support should be developed, which would streamline bureaucracy and ensure that needs are met earlier and more efficiently.
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Fund early intervention properly: This would require that:
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Waiting lists for assessments and therapies should be cut. Providing timely support saves both distress for children and families as they wait for support, and early intervention inevitably saves money later on.
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Redefining success in education. This means that:
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The obsession with narrow attainment scores that currently drives exclusion for far too many children, whether they have special needs or not, should come to an end.
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Schools should be measured by their ability to include and nurture all children, and not just produce what are deemed to be high-quality exam results, when all too often these provide no indication of any ability to actually undertake useful roles in society when education is completed.
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Action points
If you share these concerns, here are practical steps you can take:
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Write to your MP to demand proper funding for SEN and early intervention, not cuts dressed up as efficiency. My letter-writing prompt for ChatGPT is linked below for those who want to use it.
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Challenge the narrative: when you hear claims of “overdiagnosis” or “stretching definitions,” remind people that the real issue is inflexible school curricula, not fragile children.
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Support local schools and parents: ask what your local school is doing to become more neurodiverse-friendly and whether parents are facing battles to secure EHCPs.
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Keep the focus on inclusion: insist that education policy be measured by how well it supports every child to learn and thrive, not just how cheaply it can be delivered.
- Discuss this issue in terms of human rights. The UK Human Rights Act provides a right to education: Policy Exchange is denying the right of some children to enjoy that right.
Taking further action
If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions, here.
One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. ChatGPT can get it wrong.
Taking further action
If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions, here.
One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. ChatGPT can get it wrong.
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This makes a lot of sense and needs to be said out loud a lot.
One thing I have noticed as I begin the ascent to my 60th year is that there is very little allowance for those who getting on a bit as well. Your cognition slows down, you might have the odd medical condition, but any time you make mistake or have something new to learn at work, there is very little slack cut for you.
Thanks.
You are probably much more exposed to that. I was lucky.
But ageism is, I am sure alive and well.
And anyone who doesn’t understand mistakes happen, and are the basis of learning, doesn’t understand life.
Thank you Richard, an outstanding post.
On a macro political level, this othering of difference is a horrifying tendency of Fascism.
On a personal level, you are right about the waste of valuable human resources.
Society badly needs people who think differently. They are able to see beyond neurotypical convention.
Misdiagnosis ruins the lives of individuals and deeply harms their wider families.
The problem is exponentially compounded when the consequential acute psychological damage is seen as the issue itself, not the result of years of chronic hyperanxiety trying to fit into a neurotypical world.
Neurotypical refusal to acknowledge misdiagnosis leads to misapplication of powerful psychotropic drugs that are entirely in appropriate for different brain wiring. Big Pharma causes irreversible damage, leading to a lifetime of support.
This shocking waste of human brain power and financial resources must be stopped.
Thank you, and much to agree with.
Additionally: a high proportion of UK prisons contain people living with autism, ADHD, AuDHD and related needs. Another vast waste of lives, resources and money. The mental health and prison crises are interlinked.
Very much agreed.
Is the system really designed for the average child? Looking at the rates of school anxiety and refusal, I would query it’s fit for purpose at all. I see totally stressed out staff, parents and children and a ridiculously rigid curriculum. I believe there was a report looking at why Scandinavian schools achieved so well and the report was totally quashed because the government didn’t like what was said. But their system works and ours doesn’t. Surely if we had a better more tolerant system there would be less need for special provision. There were certainly far less children falling out of the system during the 70s when I was at school. So either what we are now doing is less useful, or society has changed or both.
Should I have said that this system has been created for the perfect child of the neoliberal imagination, and not for the average child? Maybe that would be closer to the truth. The inability of our education system to adapt the needs of the child is quite extraordinary and rigorously imposed. This continues, even at university, where the assumption is that every student on the course should bring the same aptitude and preferences to it, which is quite observed. This is why I never set one essay for students on my courses, but also provided a range of choices. They were not designed for different aptitudes. They were designed for people with varying approaches to the topic, and learning itself.
Kenneth Baker introduced the new system and national curriculum in the late 1980s. Many of us in teaching at the time could see the model he had in mind was a market one in which exam passes were the main aim. The League Tables of school exam passes was designed to encourage parents to divert their children away from ‘failing schools’ to the ‘more successful.’ Little or no acknowledgement that some areas and some individuals were more disadvantaged. Their boast was ‘driving up standards’. The punitive approach of OFSTED was to force schools to try to achieve higher exam passes. That happened but at a cost. Conservative journalists (Telegraph , Mail) and politicians seemed to regard teachers as politically motivated lefties.
There was little idea of identifying problems and looking to support more tailored responses. When we had more LEA subject advisors, that was part of their role.
I left teaching 20 years ago but marked GCSE and invigilated exams in a school. Gove, abetted by Cummings, made further changes. It seemed to me to based on his own independent school education which he wanted for everyone. Most teachers hated his approach. He wrote he had dragged teachers ‘kicking and screaming’ into his model, assuming he had a superior understanding.
I have said this before but it bears repeating. Dr Mary Bowsted leader of a teachers’ Union, the ATL, said to him that we don’t expect equal health outcomes from every area, rich and poor, He replied she was part of the ‘culture of excuses’. Arrogant little ****
I see Mary Bowsted is now-deservedly-a life peer.
There is a wider problem here. Politicians with limited qualifications; unwilling to listen to professional advice but a sense of mission can do a lot of harm. I am not advocating the American system of appointing people to run departments of govt. but it might be worth thinking about.
I agree with you on just about every word of that.
I test outside the normal range for autism. But I only did such a test aged 44. I’ve been fairly successful in an IT career. But social situations have always been difficult, and I have missed opportunities because of this. I do think SEND awareness might have helped to learn suitable strategies much sooner, so the question is what potential was lost, regardless of success? I was fortunate to end up in a sector that is much more tolerant of a ‘facts before friends’ view of the world, and even with that I still had mistakes where, for example, I simply didn’t understand where someone wanted a platitude instead of honesty.
Better SEND support isn’t just about whether they can hold down a job, it’s about maximising their potential.
Very much to agree with.
Gowell. There are now at least resources – YouTube is good for this.
Thank you so much for this. I would only add that kids with SEN are canaries in the mine who point at the grim failures in the system that affect all.
Thanks and agreed
My grand-daughter who has been clinically diagnosed as autistic recently got her GCSE results. She took ten subjects, one being advanced Maths. She got eight grade 9’s and two grade 8’s, almost near perfect. This was despite the head of SEND at her school being more of a hindrance than a help with many complaints lodged by parents.
Nevertheless I was astounded by my grand-daughter’s results. I can’t help comparing her with all the flag waving and wearing protesters at the asylum hotels and thinking they should really be in Special Educational Needs!
The same with virtually all mainstream journalists and politicians who are just plain economically and monetarily illiterate with their contrafactual assumptions and simply because they can’t be bothered to put in the effort to understand how things really work.
Can’t even work out that money is simply a “credit loop.” (Remember John McDonnell and his ‘government operates on a credit card’ so near and yet so far!)
Can’t even be bothered to read up the work of John Maynard Keynes who nearly ninety years ago explained the conditions that affect the workings of our credit loop.
Why can’t they make the effort? Probably after Thatcher they think it’s acceptable that Great Britain should operate as Greed Britain. Tell them that Henry Ford once said “I want my factory worker to buy my cars. If they make enough money, they’ll buy my own product.” and they’d regard it as incomprehensible!
https://mronline.org/2021/01/01/money-as-a-constitutional-project-with-christine-desan/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC18763/pdf/pq001340.pdf
Good for her.
Autism, ADHD and AuDHD can all be enabling, but the opportunity and support has to be provided.
“A stretched definition of life expectancy is costing this country £***bn/year. (NHS, Social Care, Pensions, Concessions, Housing stock)”
“In mediaeval times peasants were old in their forties. Only the well off lived for longer.”
“Current levels of life expectancy in the wider population are clearly unsustainable.”
Something similar could be said about disability.
If you think I’m being ridiculous, then study a bit more European history and wonder who is next, after we have discarded our fellow humans who are neurodiverse/SEND.
I share your concerns
I agree that the current education system seems to be failing many kids, but wonder if the current SEN approach is the right one. SEN seems to result in an unequal allocation of education resources, benefiting some at the expense of others. Parents who are ambitious for their children will respond accordingly, and we end up with this fight for resources. Surely it’s possible for us to devise a broader system that allows more to benefit, without labelling so many as “special”? Learning to struggle is, for many of us, a key skill, and one that the current system doesn’t seem to support.
Do you have any clue about neurodiversity?
Or is it your goal to crush it?
It would seem so from your comment – desiring the homogenous product.
No no no. By broad I mean a system that caters for a broader range of educational outcomes, without the need for EHCPs. The current system is doomed – it’s easy to say that we need more resources to create and deliver EHCPs, but demand will always outstrip supply, with those that shout the loudest “benefiting” to the detriment of all others.
When we can easily see that neurodivergent children are suffering compared to neurotypical ones by what logic do you think they are getting more, and we should take away what they have?
By your logic all health care should be reallocated to the healthy because they’re not getting a fair share when compared to the sick right now. Literally, there is no different.
Why are you making such an absurd argument?
Oh I must apologise for my inability to explain what I mean. What I would like to see is a system where decent SEN provision is not dependent on an EHCP. I’m concerned for those with SEN but without an EHCP. The EHCP system strips resources from more general SEN provision.
I am beginning to get you….
Peter Brown – As neuro-typical students have almost the entire curriculum and resouces geared to their neurotypical needs, I cannot see your problem.
Should the majority get EVERYTHING? They already get a disproportionate advantage.
Braille books cost more to produce and take up more room than books for sighted people. On your logic, does that unfairly privilege users of Braille? (who should just make do without access to the printed word?)
🙂
It all boils down to funding, really.
I worked in an 11 – 16 yr secondary school until 2013, initially as a beneficiary of Blair’s extra funding for education, which gave us 7 support staff and some Learning Mentors. Additionally there was support from various external services, including counselling. Not perfect, but it did help the SEN children.
Once Osborne’s ‘austerity’ got going external services were gradually withdrawn and support staffing was cut as school budgets were shaved. Pay freezes didn’t help teacher recruitment and retention, either.
I think that Funding, Funding, Funding needs to be the current mantra… without that I don’t think we’ll achieve your objectives.
Thank you Richard, for your fair and valid interpretation. I agree with the premise that neoliberalism frames public financing as a burden and not an investment in neurodivergent people. Neoliberalism and Neoliberal Neurodiversity has a contradiction in how it values neurodivergent people, eg. values neurodivergent labour in the labour market more than to public funded access to education, health and social care.
Robert Chapman in their book, Emipire of Normaility: Neurodiversity and Capitalism has drawn similar interpretations.
One to order this afternoon.
Thank you.
I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks for the post.
I have a friend who is a senior teacher in primary education. They’re also a former consultant pediatric psychiatrist and diagnosed both autism and ADHD. I asked them how many of the population of children who they see have ASD? Their estimate is 10 to 15 percent of the child population. That is vastly more than the 2% often quoted. ASD is grossly UNDER diagnosed.
Why the discrepancy? Most people don’t recognise ASD, this includes the majority of teachers. They may feel something is different but do not know why. Then there is the issue of getting a diagnosis. It is very difficult and time consuming to get a diagnosis in the state system. Private diagnosis is expensive. These issues leave many children undiagnosed leading to the gross overall under diagnosis.
ADHD is also underestimated and has similar problems with diagnosis.
There has been a lot of comment in the media about the Policy Exchange report. Why does the media take such an interest in an obviously biased report from a right wing think tank with largely undisclosed sources of funding? The output from any such think tank should be subject to intense skepticism.
Jeremy Hunt has been quoted as contributing to the report and asserting that conditions such as ASD and ADHD are over diagnosed. He has not a scintilla of medical training. Why should we listen to him? What is his evidence?
In order for there to be overdiagnosis doctors are either being hoodwinked (I don’t think they are that gullible), or they are deliberately colluding in over diagnose. Why would they do that? I’m strongly disinclined to believe such slurs on their professional integrity or competence, especially from highly partisan politicians, without strong evidence. Frankly, how dare Jeremy Hunt slur our doctors without evidence!
It is clear why neoliberals wish to assert overdiagnosis, which is to save money. They falsely believe that, if they stick their heads in the sand, the problem and the associated costs will go away. That is, frankly, utterly stupid (but, hey, they are politicians). Failing to properly diagnose such issues early only stores up problems for later and results in greatly increased cost (not to mention individual suffering and squandering of human potential). Early diagnosis saves money.
I am so angry.
I am angry, too.
But first, GPs have no training in this.
Second, most schools do not even think about this – because they are told not to do so.
Third, there is an eel problem with the autism and even spectrum claim. If there autism is described in terms of support needs, it is:
• Level 1: Needs support
• Level 2: Needs substantial support
• Level 3: Needs very substantial support
The autism society resents type 1 being described as autism and really only thinks 3 is, and I tend to agree.
Just as type 1 and 2 diabetes are effectively entirely separate conditions with one common label level 1 autism is not a disability. Level 3 is. Level 1 is having differently wired thinking. This really dies nit help.
Level 1 and adhd and so audhd (only recognised since 2013) are as you say, likely to be much more common than studies as yet show.
Those with them are not disabled. But the gave different abilities and skills, and the fact is neurotypical people have not the slightest awareness they exist, or have any curiosity about neurodivergent people, but use the most absurd tropes.
As an example, they think neurotypical people don’t understand human relationships. This is staggering. Neurodivergent people have to learn human relationships by continual observation. They are absolute experts in the,, and the associated acts of watching, listening and learning. What is required is understanding that they need time and different types of education to manage all this, though.
Thanks for taking the time to write a substantial reply. Much appreciated.
I agree that there are issues with describing the whole spectrum as autistic, I certainly have my doubts about this.
In principle, I agree that many ASD people are not disabled, just differently abled. I have argued this strongly myself. On the other hand, as a minority in a neurotypical world, they are certainly disadvantaged.
I think the key thing is that for ASD, ADHD, and other neurodiverse conditions, whether they need only modest support or a lot, these conditions be recognised. It is heartbreaking to hear, for example, of children who are seen as rude or naughty when they are merely neuro diverse – and appreciated when it is finally realised how they work. Furthermore it is often the case that simply having a diagnosis can be very helpful.
So to say that these conditions are overdiagnosed, when the reality is quite the opposite is appalling.
Thanks and keep up the good work. 🙂
We are as one on this one.
Over 20 years ago we took our children out of school as a protest because there was no provision for a fellow SEN pupil. We ended up home schooling ( long story) and over the time we saw time and again children who’s needs where not met in main stream education. Some thrived, some managed, most found a way forward in home schooling but it took time ,persistence and different approach. I have added a link to A Sir Ken Robinson talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U, I think it is still relevant. As for homeschooling the verdict is still out not because of any educational deficit but because my children did not share the school experience which sometimes still sets them apart. For those that doubt the value of HE after a visit to the Houses of Parliament I asked my daughter what’s she had learnt after a pause ” the green seats at the front are the most comfortable” what can I say?
🙂
The Policy Exchange propaganda tank, aided by the Daily Telegraph, is promoting the unstated fascist policy of subordination.
“Subordination attacks all forms of human rights, adapts over time and takes every opportunity. So, be ever watchful for its many forms and vehicles and relentlessly oppose it.” [From John Prendergast]
The 1988 Education Act was, and is, a tool for imposed conformity which taught and enforced student and teacher acceptance of fixed, state imposed “knowledge” and omitted questioning and discussing attitudes and skills. Schools became factories for state controlled learning which undermines any future alert, knowledgeably questioning citizenry.
Why has no political party reformed or removed it?
At our primary school we did our best to undermine this act by making our school welcoming and lots of fun for all students irrespective of their individual personalities, socio-economic contexts, ethnicity and behaviour styles. All students learned to discuss, read, cooperate, read and to perform in public to an audience.
“All the World is a stage and not an open prison of subordinated conformity” [A long way from Shakespeare]
P. S. Not many schools have a teacher going through it on roller skates!
I love it
And much to agree with
Having spent decades in this area the change happened with a narrow National curriculum, and a system that assesses children more than any other system.
The system creates barriers and needs.
Just look to Finland for other possibilities.
Indeed….
One day the fish had a meeting to discus the strange behaviour of the air breathers (turtles, dolphins, whales etc.).
The air breathers weren’t invited, as they had strange, clearly ridiculous ideas about things they called, sky, beaches birds (which dived into the sea and ate the fish), and of course, air. This was clearly subversive and destabilising nonsense.
The chief fish, a guppy called GillyGove, an expert on airbreathers, said the sea schools needed to clamp down on these subversive ideas about air, and land and shorelines, by following his guppy-gove curriculum. He said the chief bass had donated a fascimile copy of the very first seaschool text book, from 500 years ago, to go on the top of a cupboard in every school office. Air breathers were also removed from all teaching posts and seaschool governing bodies.
Shortly afterwards guppy-gove was eaten by an albatross who dived into the sea from the “air”.
I like it.
Very good.
One of my 6th for Sociology students, who is neurodivergent, sent an email to all her teachers two weeks ago apologising for her performance and occasional meltdowns. Told her she had nothing to apologise for, she was an excellent student, just keep me aware of her transient needs (e.g. quiet place, having a brain fade), and I was there to help as per last year. No other teacher replied.
Staggering.
And well done.
She now knows she has someone on her side.
We all need one of them.
I’m all to well aware of autism and its affects on children. From my knowledge, it takes years from first referral to simply getting a firm diagnosis. The pain and disruption continues even after that. No-one wants to know, even when that is what their job is all about.
But I wonder if, in the past, many went through childhood never even knowing about neurodivergence. I wonder what jobs they are now doing, or if they are retired and still feeling different? I wonder if they might have worked it out for themselves? Some may have, but I suspect many won’t. Finding out late in life can be both devastating and a relief; relief to have an explanation for seeming different, being treated as “other” both then in the distant past, and now in the present. The past cannot be undone, but just to show someone that you have some inkling of understand is manna from heaven.
From all I know, relief is powerful.
In some there is anger at having been failed.
That stage can be dangerous as a result.
@ Rich – agreed.
In my neighbourhood, sev of my male friends my age or older, who clearly had SENs before it was ever invented had horrible educational experiences, taught after WW2, by traumatised demobbed soldiers. Violent bullying (from the teachers), protection available often only from strong matriarch mothers who would go to the school and threaten to punch the head’s lights out if they hit their son again. They left school with no qualifications at 14. These were/are often very intelligent and resourceful men.
But while I admire and respect them for how they survived, the combination of birth, upbringing, educational disadvantage, geography, poverty, & discrimination, and bad government, meant that they haven’t “succeeded” against all the odds, with a “rags to riches” story. They have, rather, “survived” against the odds, and continue to be seriously disadvantaged within a disadvantaged neighbourhood. They don’t make good television or copy.
I respect and admire them, they are my friends, and they support me and encourage me, but we still owe them redress for the lifelong economic and social injustices they have suffered and still suffer under a corrupt unjust divisive system..
Politicians have no interest in them, except to steal their votes. The intellectual left often despises them. The right simply exploits them. The media misrepresents and stereotypes them – they don’t fit the toxic “white stale male” stereotype.
The women are even more amazing, and even more misrepresented.
So much to agree with, including in your last paragraph.
Reply to Rich – I have a good friend who was recently diagnosed as autistic …after his retirement from a long, successful career as a GP! The relief he felt when he finally got the diagnosis was massive. He said he’d always felt ‘odd’ in his earlier life; now he understands why.
An autistic person with a diagnosis can relax, play to their strengths from then on, and not be held back by the kinds of things they struggle to do.
Too many things I want to respond to, and very moving. GCHQ recruiting neurodiverse people while others try to deny needs and funding highlights the absurdity of the latter. Austerity feeds anxiety about resources and false narratives about who should ‘win’ or ‘deserve’ those resources, in so many areas, it us poisonous, divisive and damages society and democracy. Thanks for the economics lessons, for all the positive comments, for fabulous fables (the air-breathers) and visions of better things – roller skating teachers breaking the barriers of the ’88 Education Act.
🙂