How many kids actually have SEN?

[justasking14]

Morning all, not trying to be offensive with this just genuinely interested.
A big proportion of people on MN seem to have DC with autism or SN of some kind, its mentioned in their posts & replies. Have other people noticed this too & do you think its representative of general population or do mums of DC with SN use this forum more for whatever reason?

Mums of kid with sen probably need more support than others (I know I do) and therefore be more likely to seek it online.

I think if you have DC with SEN and/or medical issues then you are more likely to need support than if you have DC without them.

Do you have any DC yourself? I think the proportion of people with SEN has always been the same but DC are more likely to get diagnosed nowadays.

For eg, when I was a kid my teachers noticed I kept walking into the furniture so suggested to my parents to get my eyes checked. After getting my eyes checked I still walked into furniture so my parents signed me up to gymnastics and thought 'aw, Camomila's really clumsy'....If I was at school now, I'm pretty sure I'd be diagnosed with dyspraxia.

DS2 has autism and I do post on here more about him than DS1 simply because he has so many more issues, and this is a good place to ask for advice from there who have similar. I don’t know many people IRL who can offer me that support and understanding.

Your post will be shut down in due course. But for what it's worth, I often wonder the same thing. Especially since a lot of "professional" people have insisted that my DS has ADHD because they could not cope with a lively 4, 5, 6 & 7 year old boy! He is 10 now, still a pain in the butt, but no issues what so ever.

BUT, there are children who genuinely have SEN and thouse parents need the support & chat that MN provides as it must be difficult in RL.

From personal experience there is a complete lack of support out there for both autistic children and their parents. There really is nothing, neither the NHS or the education system seem to be able to help. I think then parents look online to find support and advice.

Having SEN may be pertinent to the post... I've had a couple of posts about books for my DD for example... The fact she has suspected dyslexia is important, as her reading level is a lot lower than her actual age, but her comprehension level is high, so she needs books written for her chronological age group but with simple language and illustrations to break up the text. If I talk about my younger daughter, with no difficulties, I don't describe her as 'bright but lazy' because it usually isn't important to the context.

Yes, I noticed this when I first starting using MN. The proportion seems far larger than is apparent in RL, even allowing for unseen disabilities. I was also surprised at how many parents have several children with these issues.

I just assume that it is easier to find support on MN than elsewhere,

People won’t post here just to say their kids are neurotypical. Parents of kids with SEN will typically post more because they need more support. Fairly straightforward.

DS hung out with his best friend for a year before I mentioned it he has ASD to his mum who then told me DS' friend has likely ADHD. People generally don't announce it IRL .

I read that a third of a class of 30 probably have SEN of different kinds. I really struggled with school and left when I was 14. Was diagnosed age 40 with dyspraxia.

14.9%

HTH

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/814244/SEN_2019_Text.docx.pdf

www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/23/send-special-educational-needs-children-excluded-from-schools

The Guardian estimates that 1.2million children have SEN, about 15% of the school age population, while only 250,000 have a statement of needs.

1/5 of dd2's class of 30 have SEN that I know of. There might be more. Her class is unusual though within the school. SEN are much better recognised than when I was at school in the 80s. I attended many schools and there was usually one, maybe two children in the class that had obvious SEN. There's still a very long way to go but SEN are much more widely recognised and diagnosed now than back then. I have ASD and no one picked up on it.

Support IRL can be very sparse. Chatting with parents in the same situation on here can provide knowledge, ideas and sympathy that don't exist necessarily otherwise. Numbers of parents of children with SEN are likely to be higher, plus anonymity can allow us to be completely open and honest about it children or or struggles without as much judgement.

I have often thought this OP, recently my old school friends and I have been to a school reunion and chatted to many of the 'naughty boys' one of our good friends has a student PhD education psychologist daughter who was our designated driver, she had a chat with some of these fellas who are now decent family men but we're just very disruptive and 'little buggers' ( their words) as kids, they were caned and sent out of the class regularly on a daily basis. We questioned how many of them would be diagnosed with 'issues' nowadays where as they were just brought up without boundaries. I reiterate they really were 'difficult' at school but are now happy adults (so it appears)..... I volunteered in school on trips and in some lessons and knowing the parents and their kids better than the teachers do I sometimes question whether there are some kids who would benefit from their parents having 'parenting skills' classes so there could be more time/resources devoted to the children with diagnosed conditions obviously I appreciate this is the 'perfect world' scenario and it does frustrate me as a parent seeing how disruptive some kids are where as we found those kids so entertaining when we were kids and engaging now we are grown up.

I have two children both diagnosed with autism and adhd. I tend to post here as real life support is lacking. Even when we had a discrimination tribunal against our educational authority. Friends didn’t really care. And there are no groups locally.

There's nothing wrong with the OP's post. But the issue with these threads is that it doesn't take long before someone like @coffeeeandtv pops up spouting ignorant bullshit.

My do is autistic, not because of my parenting, but in spite of it.

I commented on this some time ago and got flamed for it. Reason was I was somewhat staggered at what I thought was so many children in school with SEN/Autism/Aspergers....seemed about 1 in 4, many of which behaved very poorly and distracted learning for others.

I spoke to a friend who is also a teacher and there appears to be a divide in that there are children who are SEN for whatever reason and are diagnosed as such and may also have an educational statement to support them. Then there are the remainder who she described as poorly behaved, sometimes little parental control who inform the school the child is autistic etc...but when asked about diagnosis, they are self diagnosed by parents and not by a doctor. Why is this? ...probably best for people to form their own opinions on but my friend described it as people who often have poor parenting abilities and rely on describing their child as special needs when in fact is poor parenting and inability to control the child's behaviour

The problem @Clymene is people like yourself who won't tolerate open discussion and thought and want to shut it down. The OP isn't being offensive at all, but reiterating a situation and comparison, one which isn't hugely different to what I have just posted.

My son has ASD and i come to mumsnet for support because it is lacking in general society and because i dont get out the house as much as people with NT children so i am often lonely. He is one of the 250,000 with an EHCP.

Unfotunatley on MN there are also threads like this which will attract a few people who write disablist twaddle.

I have 4 SEN DC adults / children within my family.

2 are none verbal, Autistic adults

2 are profoundly Autistic, one lives in supported accomodation, 1 attends a specialist college provision that costs ££££

2 belong to me, to belong to my sis. And we aren't the only one in that situation, disabled children aren't rare .........people just don't tend to notice them unless they need to sadly. ie they're in the same, situation.

Take the current crisis, parent carers have been completely, overlooked. No help with shopping slots etc because most aren't officially shielding, no respite, having to queue at supermarkets sometimes with 2/3 disabled children in tow. (( I have a friend who got pregnant with twins when her dd was a toddler, toddler DD started showing signs of her disability when she was pregnant, all 3 went onto be diagnosed ))

We're here, we exist...........we don't need slightly, twatty posts about us on Mumsnet because someone is a bit bored. 💁🏻‍♀️

And why exactly should Clymene sit quietly while ignorant and damaging crap is once again being perpetrated by people who clearly don't have a clue, Normalmumandwife?

An open discussion means you can and will be told whenever you are talking bullshit.

Let’s not forget that there are also a lot of people who are now adults who are undiagnosed, or only diagnosed as adults, with additions needs. These often very disproportionately make up both those in prisons and those with mental health problems - because they weren’t supported correctly when younger.

clymene mmm thanks.... ignorant posters.... far from it I'm actually 100% in support of the parents who's children need extra help ie the children who are autistic/dyslexia etc that's why I volunteered in the school, I have family experience how difficult it is for parents to get a diagnosis and just how little help there is out there, my sympathies are with the children with Diagnosed conditions who in my opinion are not getting the help they need. Where as the 'spirited' kids have always been in classes who disrupt the class and take the attention away from the pupils who need it more.

Over the years there have been many posts like this. Some turn out to be trolls, some are genuine queries that end up with some posters who make untrue and unpleasant statements. Lots are thinly veiled benefit bashing where the OP knows someone who got their GP to diagnose autism so they would get DLA and a 50 inch telly.
The SN boards are hidden because of trolls.
So yes, SN parents are sceptical of threads like this because so many turn out to be nasty.