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?

@Brogley. Your journey almost matches mine. The sad thing is that you can fight so much harder for the 2nd child. It shouldn't be like this.
Getting a diagnosis is such an uphill battle. The idea they are given out like smarties is so laughable.
I had no diagnosis of autism in the 80s at school. I do now at 46. And I could cry for the little girl whose whole life might have been so much easier if she'd known why she reacted differently and teachers that understood.
But yes. I think a lot of parents of kids with SEN are on here and I'm glad mumsnet exists.

Not to mention a lot have children have very restricted diets, and will.only eat certain things ,I'm not over the moon my child will.sometimes only eat pot noodles but it's either that or starve .

And again, my DS has a very limited diet because he has autism, his poor diet hasn't led to autism.

It makes me laugh really that anyone could be so bloody ignorant. I'm a bloody good cook and I make all my food 'from scratch' as Americans say. I don't use packets or mixes - I make curries and sauces and tagines grinding spices and herbs.

My DS on the other hand eats beige food. It's all from a packet. None of it can touch. I cannot have any involvement other than opening the container.

It restricts where we can go on holiday, our social interaction and our freedom.

Do you honestly think I would choose this? It's exhausting, frustrating and isolating.

And that's just the food. I adore my child - he's absolutely fantastic but he really isn't the option for a lazy incompetent parent.

Calm down everyone, I didn't say every single child.
And yes sometimes children are diagnosed too easily. They are diagnosed before their diet/routine etc is looked in to. This of course doesn't mean children are not sometimes SEN, but children are sometimes diagnosed without proper information. I witness it first hand in my job. Just because it's an opinion you don't like it does not mean it doesn't happen

Its not talked about in real life. I have 3 dc's 2 with sen. We have had the usual they don't look it we can't see it. He is so lovely it can't possibly be. I have had hes not naughty so doesnt need support. That all his problems our parental issues. Official diagonsis was given but school believed they know better and refused to accpet it and stated ds had no needs at all they refered us to every parental help service possible even social services and wouldn't accept that every service couldn't find issues. The school held meetings without us made reports that had confidential not to be shared with parents at the top of the letter in big red capital letters. They said i needed to be retrained how to be a parent every year like teachers do as stragies change and they told everyone that we had no clue on who our son was and were constantly trying to demand they had input with every professional they called my ds incontinence nurse several times and had her in a meeting trying to get her to agree we were giving our ds medication to ensure he soiled at school and wouldn't accept that ds had toileting issues that the medical professionals had given him medication for. We stopped talking to people in rl as they didn't get it thought we were just difficult so we came to places like here for the support to get though it all. We actually put complaints in and everyone has come back with apologies and retraining for staff due to what they did. Sen is more freely talked about on mn.

Children are not SEN. They might have SEN or they might have SN but they are not SEN, they're people not a walking diagnosis.

Also as explained earlier, SEN and SN are not the same thing.

Diet and routine do not cause autism.

I'm not over the moon my child will.sometimes only eat pot noodles but it's either that or starve .

Literally all DS2 will eat at the moment is peanut butter sandwiches and multivitamins.

Because it doesn't happen and certainly not to multiple children. A diagnosis is not easy to get at all. What you're saying is insulting to those of us who have had to battle all the way through.

If you're re so good at your job and you're so convinced, maybe you could address the posts on how to cure a limited diet because of sensory issues that go hand in hand with autism. I'm all eyes

@Brogley

I never said diet and routine cause autism.

I am saying that if you consciously feed your child sugary foods throughout the day, not because it's the only thing that the child will eat but because you know it'll keep them happy for a few minutes, and you consistently refuse to give them routine, or take them out for walks every days etc to burn energy, then they can sometimes exhibit very similar behaviours to someone with autism and therefore the line of when to diagnose gets blurred and occasionally some children get diagnosed when they shouldn't necessarily be

Sugary food doesn't cause hyperactivity or misbehaviour, it's a link that has been disproven many times.

Want to try another myth?

MN is a safe space to talk about it, vent, rage, ask for advice etc. It does sometimes seem that ‘everyone’ on MN has a child (or two/three) with SEN etc, but I think it’s more a case of those parents on this site feel able to share more easily as they will have others that get what they are dealing with.

@Brogley

That's odd, because in my classroom I can tell immediately which children has been fed coco pops sugar filled cereal for breakfast and have fizzy drinks in their lunch over the ones that have a balanced diet purely through the behaviour they exhibit

No, you really can't.

@Brogley

I'm not quite sure why you feel you know exactly what I see, think and feel on a daily basis?

I can, and I am perfectly in my right, to disagree with you. But you seem incapable of realising that others can have a different view.

Your talking shit Millie,

No, you really can't tell. Your belief that they have had sugar may alter your perception on their behaviour however science disagrees with you. Sugar does not cause bad behaviour or hyperactivity.

scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/10/31/debunking-a-halloween-myth-sugar-and-hyperactivity/

@Brogley

I can. I really can. But please, continue to let your passion override your ability to understand another view.

It's not my passion. It is scientific fact. Does your incorrect opinion override actually scientific study? You can say it until you are blue in the face, that sugar causes bad behaviour, but there is zero science to back this claim up and any tenuous link have been disproven by various studies.

@Brogley

Well my experience says otherwise. The science studies don't cover every single child in the entire world, so there will always be cases where it isn't true.

Science doesn't work that way and unless you've had your experiences peer reviewed and tested against a control group then you're talking about anecdotes.

Anecdotes are not facts.

@Brogley

Unless I outright agree with you, then you won't be satisfied. Dig up all the scientific articles you wish, my experience says different to your facts. Carry on arguing with yourself. And for what it's worth, you are the sort of person who makes SEN so very difficult to talk about because your incapable of even having a conversation about it.

I wondered this often too OP.....now it transpires my boy is likely autistic (still waiting to see paediatrician though) and yes I do talk about him a lot more now online because of this.

Unless I outright agree with you, then you won't be satisfied. Dig up all the scientific articles you wish, my experience says different to your facts. Carry on arguing with yourself. And for what it's worth, you are the sort of person who makes SEN so very difficult to talk about because your incapable of even having a conversation about it.

People like you, your inaccuracies and your judgements, your belief that your opinion trumps science - you're the reason discussions can't be had about it.

I've wondered that too. It becomes a political issue. There's selection bias in that the sample of parents on MN will have a higher proportion of SEN kids, as others noted. Id have thought the self diagnosed might be more the issue IRL.

I was on Mumsnet before I had a SEN child and definitely wondered where all these SEN children were as I wasn’t coming across them (and worked as a TA in an inner London primary for 7 years.) However, since my daughter has been investigated I’ve learnt a lot more about it and when people write posts I often resonate with what people are saying, it’s exhausting and a totally different experience of parenting.

My daughter gets funding for SEN - I think that maker her officially SEN.