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?

I think that if I had been at school now rather than in the late 60's/early 70's I would have probably been diagnosed with some form of condition.

What kind of condition do you think you probably would have been diagnosed with?
Not being snarky or anything it's just i hear people saying that a lot, words along the lines of "well i was a loner at school who was obsessed with reading/maths/science and if i was at school now i think I'd be diagnosed with a form of autism."
Yeah, not how it works. People don't get diagnosed with autism for being a bit different or quirky, not for being a loner either. People seem to have no idea what the diagnostic threshold is and i find it really disrespectful to people who have and are disabled by their autism.

Of couse not but before you give a diagnoses you need to look at other possibilities. if cutting out a drink helps a child cut it out. If setting firm boundaries helps do it. That does not mean a child has or hasn,t got a prob but it may help as an indicator.

Of couse not but before you give a diagnoses you need to look at other possibilities. if cutting out a drink helps a child cut it out. If setting firm boundaries helps do it. That does not mean a child has or hasn,t got a prob but it may help as an indicator.

Ok, you're taking the piss now. You don't think other possibilities are considered before diagnosing a child? So what, you think the doctor just sees a badly behaved child, pronounces they have ADHD and that's that?
Ah, the old setting firm boundaries. Because parents of children with SN would never think of that by themselves would they? Nah, they just let their kids run wild. 😡 Those magical firm boundaries that somehow cure autism and ADHD. Oh, and it's "problem" not "prob"
But autism and ADHD aren't "problems", they're neurodevelopmental disorders and they aren't magically fixed by setting firm boundaries or cutting out a certain food or drink.

All of that happens on the very long road for some for a diagnosis. Most of the people I know had their kids diet looked at, medical reason, ears /eyes, had to take parenting courses and many many other things. All the while being told by family and friends and even some professionals that their kid is fiiiiine or just need to be firmer or not give them any sweets. What's even sadder is that most of them also have more than one child, but despite parenting them all the same the others have no difficulties.

It can take between 18 months and 3 years to get a diagnosis, that's if you even get one. It's a long,exhausting, gaslighting and lonely road to walk on.

Dobbin I'm honestly no expert, hopefully others on here are. It will depend on many things, particularly the age of the child. Since it's guesswork there's a much bigger need to consider possible benefits compared to possible risks.

www.healthline.com/health/adhd/caffeine

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315169#caffeine-and-children

Your right PrincessConsuelaBananaHammock, butbefore any diagnoses alternatives are ruled out. I wasn,t just given my labels I was assessed, had various interventions, for some children with out my issues the interventions were enough but not for me. I ended up having more targeted help. But it would have been foolish to not have tried the original interventions.

My eldest has adhd and I absolutely hate that he's labelled the bad kid. He's hyper yes but he doesn't have a bad bone in his body but because he's hyper he's seen as naughty because he can't sit still for long periods yet the children who can sit are allowed to run their mouths off and call my son names, tease him and upset him but my sons the bad kid.

There is a lot of ignorance surrounding adhd.

We had 2 eye tests, 2 hearing tests, extra visits from the health visitor, sent on a parenting course, sent on yet another parenting course years later. Finally diagnosed at 8 with adhd and asd. No one fucking listened when I was back and forth to the health visitor, nursery, the GP, the school. So don't sit there and think that it's because he had fizzy juice at his grans 70th birthday, he watched an iPad for a hour a day or because I wasn't hard enough on him. If anything, I feel guilty imposing those stupid "rules" from triple p on him when I knew there was something different about him and he couldn't help not being able to sit still, liking things done his own way, struggling socially.

according to professionals I begged for help, he was fine, he's just emotionally immature, he will catch up or whatever bollocks they spouted to get us out the door. I was even called a time waster once by a GP.

@2007Millie It is really hard as a parent of someone with SEN to hear the opinions of teachers and others when they have no real knowledge of the diagnoses or process of diagnoses. It is mostly opinion and often judgement, not really concern or support or understanding. What a teacher may have is a load of independent observations of a particular age range of children in a particular environment over time, this does not equal expertise on neurodevelopment. I have encountered so many teachers who feel they can confidently give professional opinion on a very specific and often complex neurodevelopmental condition, worse still dismiss a professional diagnosis because they think they understand better. Clearly there is a place and need for teachers' observations in getting assessments sought but these should be informed and fed into a process. I don't expect teachers to know everything, I expect them to raise concerns with the parent/appropriate professional and not to make a judgment themselves. It is such a battle. You honestly don't know the struggle. You probably don't see how much has gone into that child just getting into school or what the effects on being in school does to them. It is unbearable hearing someone who understands your child so little asserting such certainty as to why you/your child are just not quite getting it right.

I think it's higher than you think. 15%? Only? Surprising.

Ds1 is difficult. Has bought me to my knees before. God, I've sobbed.

@Straysocks

I spend 50% of my time in a SEN school, so I do have quite a broad understanding.

I know of many children who have been diagnosed in under 12 months with no real look into their home life.

Once again, I am of course saying that 99% of diagnose' are absolutely necessary, but surely people realise that there are some that aren't? The system is not perfect, and there are 2 sides to the story.

Of couse not but before you give a diagnoses you need to look at other possibilities. if cutting out a drink helps a child cut it out. If setting firm boundaries helps do it.

Do you have kids? If so, if your child literally woke up one day having lost a significant proportion of the skills they’d acquired, what would you do?

Would you try absolutely every single thing you can think of to help them? Or would you just sit back and wait 12 months for a diagnosis and then still not bother to do anything?

Why would you assume parents of children with ASD would do the latter when any reasonable person would do the former?

You honestly cannot imagine the lengths I’ve gone to and time and money I’ve spent trying to help my boys. Most children learn to play through their own exploration - mine didn’t so need constant adult support to even stack one block on top of another. Most children learn to talk just from listening and observing. Mine haven’t, so every interaction is made up of speech therapy techniques and I spend my days laminating and cutting out PECS cards, trying to coax exchanges out of them even when I know they want a drink but I need them to learn to communicate that. Most children learn from watching and copying others but mine don’t so I have to sit and copy them and hope they notice. Most children respond to verbal instruction - good luck taking two nonverbal preschool kids with ASD for a walk to the park on your own.

And that’s not even getting into the hundreds of hours I’ve spent fighting for the right specialist school for them, rather than the cheapest.

All for things other parents take for granted and can just do.

And no matter how much I do for them, there will always be people who think my children just have shitty parents.

Spending time in SEN schools certainly doesn’t make you an expert on the ins and outs of the diagnosis process. Especially given in order to get into a specialist schools most children will already have had diagnosis and the parents will have already done a massive amount of fighting the system in most cases.

@Sirzy never said I was an expert, but continue to read what you wish, and not actually what I've said.

Some teachers in mainstream think they know all about autism ,adhd etc when in reality they no very little,my own sister is a teacher has been for 25+ years in a somewhat deprived school with quite a lot of social problems ,I remember when my ds was going through the assessment stage and her knowledge was dubious to say the least ,I think she,s more aware now but only because of my son and seeing what it's like first hand, as for energy drinks and sugar affecting behaviour ,wether it does or not ,my under standing is that a child has to present the same in all settings before a diagnosis of say adhd for examp!e would be give ,and I doubt very much a school.would allow children to be drinking energy drinks I have queried wether my son also has adhd along with autism and learning disabilities however his special school and paediatrician don't think so .

If you work in an SEN school then you should know that this myth of otherwise typical but just badly behaved children is nonsense, certainly in SEN schools. You should also know what the EHCP assessment process is like and the landslide of shit that parents have to navigate in order to get their child into a specialist setting in the first place.

Not looked at the home life? Most children referred young perform poorly in the standard 27 month check performed by health visitors in the home. We’ve had health visitors, paediatric nurses, nursery nurses, portage practitioners, VI teachers, social care OTs etc in our home to help the twins. What investigation of our home life would you recommend?

x2 last year I got a reply from Ds's Senco after yet another email from me to her, pretty much pleading for support. She told me that 'we would anticipate the needs of a pupil with ASD would be accommodated by the pedagogical practices that are already in place'. So a half days inset training for staff on ASD and they think it's all fine and no other support is needed.

@SinkGirl I've seen you talking about your boys on a few threads, and I just have to say your an absolute warrior. Twins on their own-hard enough.
Child with SN- hard enough. Twins with SN-off the scale. But with everything you write you can see the love, time and effort you put into raising and helping them. Absolute Kudos to you, your fantastic.
As are all the other parents on her with children with SN.

@sinkgirl

Like I've said, a thousand times, for most children the process is absolutely necessary, however, on occasions, there are children that get diagnosed without needing it, without a proper look (why this is, I don't know, because I fully appreciate the maze you have to go through to even have a diagnose' considered 99% of the time)

Will second that about SinkGirl.:)

Pun I have done the various courses they send you on as a parent of a,child with disabilities and when I went on the early bird course a few years ago ,the people leading the course said they welcomed teachers and teaching assistants on the course but it was very rare for them to take up.the offers ,whilst I realise it might be difficult releasing staff for courses it would be beneficial in the long run , and yt?he early bird course I was on there were parents of children in all sett ing ,from mainstream ,to hubs ,special school, educated etc

I think an awful lot more children fall through the net and don’t get a diagnosis they need and as such the support than are diagnosed when they shouldn’t be.

@Sirzy

I totally agree. And an awful lot more needs to be done to accommodate the increasing number of people who get diagnosed, instead of making it A) incredibly difficult to get diagnosed sometimes and B) not giving a place in an appropriate school when required. I know far to many children who would benefit from being in a SEN school but funding won't allow it