AIBU to think not every school issue should be labelled SEN?

Exactly, we're social tribal animals and we're deviating further away from our development in that regard and forgetting the community and group, we've become individualistic and it's bad for us

Inclusion on the scale that has been forced on schools and children just isn't sustainable- every child is suffering.

There has been an erosion imo of what is considered part of the usual human condition mind you. Everyone has quirks, but people are quick to label it SEN. This also damages those with genuine additional needs, similar to someone experiencing an expected human reaction to a stressful event claiming they have anxiety when they have are just human which has led to less understanding of the extent someone with anxiety struggles.

I've been teaching for a long time now. There are many issues.

The demands of the curriculum, school timetabling, school day are unmanageable for a lot of children SEND or not. Schools can't/won't do much about that.

Both parents working full time, the impact of that on wider family support (eg grandparents, aunts, uncles etc also working full time and reduced capacity for support). Schools can't do much about that.

Changes in parenting approaches and the the effects of that. Schools can't do anything about that.

Use of screen time in homes for whatever reason and the impact of that. Schools can't do anything about that.

Some children with 'low level' autism and ADHD who would have coped in school 30+ years ago (like me, for example) and flown under the radar now don't because of increased demands.

School funding cuts meaning fewer resources (human and physical) which leads to a teacher in a class of 30 with 1/5 significant SEND needs (eg complex behavioural needs; significant cognition amd learning needs; reduced capacity to meet the needs). And variable responses to SEND needs in the classroom based on individual teachers knowledge, experience and expertise.

Higher expectations/demands on teachers and children overall - some of which are unrealistic.

Punitive responses to school absence.

Ineffective mainstream inclusion policies and strategies and children who would genuinely benefit from specialised provision being denied access to it due to funding spaces.

The negatives impact of the Local Offer approach to funding SEND.

The impact of these can cause very unsettled and chaotic homelives for children and create issues that mimic SEND. Especially with regards to ND traits. But no one has the means or capacity to address these, certainly not individual schools.

They do, in effect create 'special (or additional) educational needs' in some children that aren't related to a diagnosable condition and who wouldn't be diagnosed with anything but do present with behaviours that make it difficult for teachers to teach and for themselves and others to learn. They just have a different root cause. Eg trauma responses can manifest in ways that look like adhd and autism to a non specialist observer. (The Coventry Grid exists for this reason).

Not all strategies that work with ND children work because the root cause is different. But schools defer to 'possible SEND' because it's easier.

Eg I taught a child a couple of years ago who we knew was living in a misogynistic, hyper masculine DV environment and his behaviours reflected that. This was rejected as the reason for his behaviour, and I was asked if I thought he had ADHD and given a pair of ear defenders for him to use. Because schools have ear defenders but they don't generally have strategies for dealing with traumatised children.

Toughened safety glass is not unbreakable, but is designed to break into large pieces, rather than shatter into smaller pieces like standard glass does. This means it’s easier to clean up and people are less likely to get cut by tiny shards of glass.

But that isn't always fear, it's about social responsibility, thinking of others, having good manners- which is much lower than it used to be I think.

Screen time.

Increased cost of living meaning both parents often need to work full time so less time for quiet connection, more rushing, more wrap around. Children being driven even short distances to school as parents are rushing off to work after dropping

Housing shortage - people are living in over crowded conditions, less outside space, more frequent moving

More parental anxiety meaning children are less likely to play out, take part in 'safe risk taking'. Parents in DD2's class put trackers in their back packs on school trips, parents watching their secondary age childs trip home on a phone app, that level on constant anxiety will be passed onto children.

Compassion fatigue - constant information about wars and disasters coming at children via social media, at ages when they can't comprehend it so they start to shut down

Social media pressures- my 10 year old doesn't have a phone or iPad, but she hangs out with lots if children who do. Her birthday list this year - lots of makeup, skin care (as if a 10 year old needs skin care beyond washing their face), specific clothes etc - the pressure to conform is huge, and this becomes a focus, rather than having fun, which impacts on their mental health

It doesn’t end at school either, it extends into university. We get students too anxious to turn up, students with SSP’s stipulating that staff can’t ask them questions and they have to undertake presentations online or 1:1, students who are so sensitive they ask for alternative books if the ones on the reading list contain certain terminology, trigger warnings on PowerPoints before uttering certain words etc etc. All falls under the guise of SEN or MH. I find it a bit pathetic but have to play along.

What is wrong with conforming out of fear? Isn't that what society is about? Consequences for bad actions?

I don't see any issues with these comments at all. Especially as they are likely coming from concerned SEN parents.

My child has packed lunches due to a limited diet and my first thought was ''Well, I hope packed lunches aren't next''.

The amount of poor parenting I see outside of school is astounding. I was on a train at the weekend and there was a group of parents with their children, playing music through speakers, all singing along. Same song, over and over again. No regard whatsoever about the dozens of people around them! How on earth are those children going to conform to school norms?!

The challenge comes when you have a highly academic child who is also very disruptive/aggressive. Most special schools cater for children with lower learning ability.

I have children on my caseload who have a significant physical disability but high learning ability. No suitable placement can be found within half an hour of the families home. My daughter has a child in her class who swears, hits, and throws chairs at other children, but mum has declined local special schools as they dont meet his academic ability.

personally, I think there is more neuro-diversity than we realise. Those of us who are older (I grew up in the 70s) saw children conform out of fear in schools and we tend to assume this means there is somehow more SEN around today than before. I don't think this is true. I do think we are more aware, and I do think there is an attempt to understand and include like never before. Is there poor behaviour in schools in a way that there wasn't in the past? Most likely. Most likely much of that is poor parenting and/or children who haven't had a great start in life as well as some questionable parenting techniques. But some of it will be SEN too. The Government doesn't help - the shift in schools to it being the school's responsibility to get results rather than individual children working hard and doing their best is extremely problematic. It allows many parents to shrug and look to the school to sort it for them.

I don’t think any parent (myself included) who genuinely believe their child has SEN simply believes that just because their child ‘behaves badly’ (as some posters have put it). It’s far more complex and complicated than that and a mixture of many different symptoms & behaviours.

Speaking with my daughters head - up until 4 years ago, they referred around 20% of children for assessment for ASD/ ADHD. They they moved to continuous learning provision ( a more active engaging way of learning, similar to reception) and their referrals dropped to a couple. The issue wasn't the children, it was expecting children to do something they weren't developmentally ready for.

The first of these children have now completed year 3 - their attainment is way ahead of previous years, because the right building blocks were in place, presented in a way which children can absorb more easily.

Childrens lives are now more sedentary than they used to be, so they are not burning off energy and getting the balancing proprioceptive inputs as much as they used to. So they are not as ready to sit and learn as they were years ago. Education needs to adapt to the needs of the children its serving, and that current need is movement.

Just to further emphasize that, the narrative difference is huge.

"I am a terrible parent who cannot control my child or teach him how to behave, so he is disrupting other children's education and being awful in school"

"I am a hard working parent, struggling to manage a child with challenging needs, whose problems in school come from how his brain functions and not me"

No parent is consciously thinking this, but subconsciously our brains are very good at trying to minimize harm, and avoid narratives would be painful to accept. It is very painful to accept that you have harmed your child through poor parenting - and perfectly natural to be seeking a reason why this isn't the case.

Indeed, but the SEN budgets are woefully inadequate.

When you are being named as a placement for pupils who need 2:1 or 1:1 provision all day for their own/others’ safety, but what they actually receive financially falls way short of this, you use all your money there and there’s nothing left for anyone with a diagnosis, let alone those without.

of course this is going to trigger very defensive responses...

Which is a shame, because you hit a really problematic issue:

The "over" use of SEN/ND harms those with genuine SEN/ND the most...
But
Those with SEN/ND children are the first to reject the idea that it is over used.

You can understand why, the notion that it is used to much, suggests that maybe others think their issues are not real. But in supporting this increase in use, eventually it is them that gets harmed as the resources they need get stretched so thinly to try and fit those who don't really need them.

In terms of the mechanism by which this works, it is really simple:

ND/SEN removes accountability from those surrounding a child, which is highly desirable.

You could have a naughty disruptive son because you are a bad and ineffective parent.

Or
You could have a naughty disruptive son because of a medical condition that no one can control...

Which would you chose?

Its easier to buy into the idea that there is no such thing as a bad parent or a bad child, and it isn't any of our faults. Hence the (natural) rise in SEN/ND becoming the go-to answer for every family or educational problem.

None of this means that SEN/ND isn't real or serious - it is, but the desperation to diagnosis everything rather than face up to our limitations and problems, is real, and it is mostly hurting the families and children with serious and real SEN/ND issues.

I think it is an epidemic due to this self diagnosis. I taught for 30.plus years. One child was being disruptive. He told me he had ADHD. I had another look on his records- nothing. He told me everyone had ADHD. I told him i didn't. It's not just in schools, on here, how many times do people say they suspect they are neurodivergent? Seems we don't need expert opinion as many people think they know best.

Dc don’t need a diagnosis of anything for a school to use their sen budget to help them. It’s a discretionary use of funds. That’s why the rush to over diagnose is problematic. Heads can exclude dangerous dc too after all avenues are exhausted. They should if other dc are unsafe.

My younger son is 35, high functioning Asperger’s, I suspect his dad is borderline ,little did I know.
My son struggled at primary school, and had a horrible upsetting pre school assessment, the awful woman said wait and see, after issues at play school and nursery. ( bowel related issues)
He went to school with no provision.