Have you noticed many schools are trying to assign labels to pupils who may not necessarily need them - why is there a huge increase in SEN statements and the sheer number of pupils being diagnosed ?

To add in response to your most ridiculous statement "how do we quantify an autism assessment" - what do you mean: how much does it cost? What does it consist of? How many take place? Or something else?

Do you really think the NHS does anything lightly - have you actually tried getting the NHS to do anything?!

There's more commentary on SEND at the moment. That doesn't mean anything much is new. It just means people who aren't directly affected are noticing the news coverage.

I mean, tariffs have existed in some form for centuries but I bet you some people never heard the word till recently, still less knew what they were. You'd have to be living under a rock not to now.

Schools don't diagnose and certainly aren't rushing to put children on SEN support as that costs them money. Saying that I do think there are more children having SEN needs not just because of better awareness, but because schools (especially secondary) have become so underfunded, large and prescriptive that children that would previously have managed now can't. They also expect things that aren't actually developmentally appropriate such as expecting 11 year olds to be totally independent or 5 year olds to sit still for large parts of the day.

There also is no way parents are over diagnosing just for fun. It's endless forms meetings assessments email after email being ignored. Money, time it's such a headache.

Oh I'd welcome some willy nilly diagnosing that you describe op. We have been waiting almost 3 years. School do not want to know. It's such a battle.

Are you wanting someone to write your essay or article for you?

absolutely- anyone who thinks it’s easy to get an EHCP obviously has no clue!

DS1 has had an EHCP since before he started school. In spite of this, the first school he attended went out of their way to claim that he didn’t have any challenges at all and that I was paranoid and a liar. His ASD diagnosis got delayed by years because every time we gave them an assessment questionnaire to fill in, they either ‘lost it’, claimed I hadn’t given it to them in the first place, or - eventually - filled it in to state no ‘quirks’ at all in any category. Our experience is extreme and - I hope - very very unusual. If he’d been ‘labelled’ at that school, though, the label would probably have said “please move along, nothing to see here!”. It certainly wouldn’t have said “autism plus multiple complex disabilities”.

I don't think it's schools driving it, more that parents are more aware and fighting for what DC need.

I do wonder however, at what point we have to start saying the needs aren't "special", but simply human differences. What proportion of children need to have a condition before it's ordinary?

@yummymu schools don't do this.
If there is over-diagnosis it is driven by parents, fuelled by information they read online, which has snowballed from the US diagnosis industry. It plays on their fears.

Tell me you have absolutely no clue about SEN in schools without telling me you have no bleeding clue 🤦🏻

Is this some kind of journalistic/clickbaity fishing exercise? OP clearly hasn’t got a clue!

No. If anything the schools try to hold back on diagnosis because it costs them money.

And then we spend the rest of our time like Scrooge McDuck, diving into the pool of money of funding that all these labels bring.

1-1 SEN TA here in a primary setting. I can tell you you’re talking absolute nonsense. No, I haven’t noticed, at all. Also, schools do not diagnose. Where on Earth you’ve got your information from?

Teacher here. Yes., you are right . It's all I do all day. Stand around in the corridor with a roll of sticky labels whacking them on any and every passing kid. It really makes my job so very much easier...

Oh, the 'it's a label, you don't need a label' argument. Otherwise known as the 'be desperately unhappy because your needs are unidentified, but at least we don't have the imaginary social stigma of a child with a disability or learning difficulty'/'if it's not diagnosed we won't have to fund it' position.

It's protection. It's acknowledgement.

Was recommended to have 2 of my kids assessed for various issues. The EP said they both had processing issues and needed extra time in exams. A friend (who is an EP) knew this EP and said that they always overdiagnose. In this case, we decided to see how they progressed and leave the report. One of the schools then recommended another report and the (different) EP said the child had no issues at all. Another friend had an assessment by an EP for her child and the EP asked what they wanted her to write in her report. I think this whole area is open to a huge amount of abuse. I was completely shocked.

You are posting in secondary education.

my experience from talking to parents and also having an autistic child is that many children effectively mask at primary level. At secondary level with more demands they begin to flounder and struggle.

In reality they’ve always had issues but have been able to cope in smaller better supported environments.

Honestly OP, I'd drop it. You're just embarrassing yourself with your nonsense.

DS's ASD wasn't picked up till just before secondary school age, and then only because his teacher went on a course and then had a suspicion. It became far, far more obvious at secondary school as the emotional maturity and social skills gap widened hugely. ND conditions run through my mum's side of the family.

Naughty is a label OP. ASD is a diagnosis.

Do you live in Opposite World 🤔😂
As the parent of a child with SEN my experience with schools is the complete opposite.
Children who ACTUALLY do need a diagnosis/help/support have to fight to get it.

They will do it because they need more support with these children’s behaviours than they currently have. Maybe they do sometimes believe that the child’s problems would be solved by better parenting whether or not there is a diagnosable condition, but they have less control over that than they do SEN referrals.

No one is doing this shit for fun. People want their kids to get the support they need.

It is bloody hard work to get an assessment. It's not easy. Your looking at a 2 year + wait on the NHS to even see anyone. Getting the support needed is a real upward battle. It's really not an easy process. Everything is difficult. Even with a diagnosis then you need to find an appropriate provision.

Well said.
I couldn't have put it better.
Labels indeed.
Should all Mental health conditions be labeled.