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Original poster

Number of kids with LD or additional needs increasing?

183 replies

Curiocat · 03/03/2016 23:23

Hi all,

This is a sensitive topic so want to start off by saying I'm in no way having a dig or being goady etc. From following aibu and other boards it seems like many parents have kids with some form of additional needs and numbers seem to have increased in recent years.

I wondered what the percentage of kids that will have SN/LDs and if the numbers are indeed on the rise, or is it that just that people are open about the issues their kids face, and we talk/are more aware about it more these days?

I could be completely wrong here- just an observation on my part from lurking the past few months, and of course massive well done/ admiration to all parents that do contend with this alongside all the other trials and tribulations that come with children! X

OP posts:
CreamofTartar · 04/03/2016 09:17

I agreeing with Fanjo that this is deeply othering, and more than a bit self-congratulatory. I don't need to be the parent of a child with SN to think that as a society we in no way merit a big back-pat for no longer institutionalising children with dusabilities.

EssentialHummus · 04/03/2016 09:19

People don't live in the same place they were born, silicon valley has high numbers of ASD kids because a lot of people with ASD find tech and programming logical, if both parents have ASD then the chances of inheriting are higher.

TBF given that there's an acute shortage of women in Silicon Valley, the chance of two over-worked techies actually getting out of the office before midnight, meeting, dating and procreating, is not going to keep me awake at night Grin.

I was the odd kid at school. I'm an odd adult now. I expect that if I'd been raised in present-day England rather than 90s South Africa my unwillingness to speak, obsessional behaviour, strong shyness etc would have been diagnosed as something. Because I did fine in the education system, nothing was picked up. There are probably loads like me.

PhilPhilConnors · 04/03/2016 09:19

Classrooms today are horrible. I can't comfortably sit in one as there's too much going on, too many posters on the walls, things hanging from the ceiling, all sorts of shiny laminated things surrounding the board, it's all too distracting, even before you add the noise levels.

When I was at school, the classroom had shelves of books at the back, posters on one wall, times tables above the board and a rather nice spider plant sitting on top of a filing cabinet. And that was it.
We did some sort of pe every day.
During lessons we were quiet.
There simply weren't the distractions, so it was easier to cope.

Diagnosis has got better, which is brilliant, because people who floundered and failed are now hopefully getting more recognition and support.
I only wish that schools would understand what a sensory assault the classroom is though, and address things there. I'm only in the classroom a few minutes a week, and it's difficult.

CheeseAndSprinkleys · 04/03/2016 10:04

Agree classrooms today really are an assault on the senses.

CheeseAndSprinkleys · 04/03/2016 10:06

I see my wee ds spinning on the outskirts of the classroom in the morning as he the rest settle in. I think that's him settling in. It's all the noise, visuals, smells...wants he's got it in order he can then get on with his day, I think.
Anyway back to the thread.

CheeseAndSprinkleys · 04/03/2016 10:07

Once not wants!!!

Aeroflotgirl · 04/03/2016 10:09

I don't think it's increasing, but it is being identified more, the push by professionals for early intervention when a need is identified us paramount, so the push now is the earlier the better. Back in the day, if you had a learning difficulty like I did, you woukd be expected to get on with it, sink or swim, or would be labelled thick or stupid by teachers. It has changed for the better, professionals who work with children are clued up and more on the ball, though not always.

PhilPhilConnors · 04/03/2016 10:26

There is a divide I think between people who have DC with SN, who believe that better identification is a good thing, and people without, who believe it's a bad thing and is proof of a pandering society.
I do wish others would try to understand what it's like to live with SN day in day out, and realise that they're just as much our lovely children whom we love to bits, just like their children are, and realise that everyone is as much a part of society as each other.

hazeyjane · 04/03/2016 10:48

I agree threads like these leave a nasty taste in my mouth, because I get a mental image of someone like Ds being peered at through a microscope, in a, 'ooh isn't he interesting' sort of way. But realise these are my feelings (probably due to the fact that Ds has been peered at and poked and prodded for far too much of his 5 years)

I don't have the link, but ds's geneticist (who is a world expert on certain conditions) showed me a study which looked at the relation between inter cousin marriage and higher rates of genetic conditions, because we had asked her about the questionnaire which the genetics nurse had gone through with us, the first question of which was - are you and your partner related in any way other than marriage?

Samcro · 04/03/2016 10:52

I often think that its the labels that cause the increase.
dd has a severe disabilty so sn/ld.
ds has hearing loss so AN or SEN.....he just needed a little bit of extra care. (things like where he sat in classroom and teacher checking he heard directions in class) she needs 24/7 care. yet nowadays its all grouped together as AN.

absolutelynotfabulous · 04/03/2016 11:00

Back in my days (60s/70s) children with special needs would have been in special schools and largely kept away from the public gaze. I'm sure there were many more who would have been diagnosed with autism etc; my cousin, for one. He's always struggled with his "nerves" and is now practically an invalid due to (I believe) misdiagnosis and medication.

I remember many people suffering with their "nerves" back then, which was a catch all phrase for not being able to cope in some way.

MrsJayy · 04/03/2016 11:01

I have lived with a Sn for nearly 45 years i know exactly what its like all this talk of othering like people are being smug is insulting back in the day when kids were called spaz mong thick stupid sitting in a class lost and lonely was quite frankly shite and if any child can be assisted in anyway get through a day has to be a good thing its not othering to say kids were put away because it is fact

MissLanaBanana · 04/03/2016 11:09

More babies are surviving when born early in pregnancy where years ago the medical knowledge wasn't there to save them. Some grow up as any other child but others are left with mild or severe learning disabilities and often more complex physical disabilities.

TeenAndTween · 04/03/2016 11:15

30 years ago my DD would have been 'clumsy' and 'not trying hard enough' and she would have failed her GCSEs.

Now we know she has dyspraxia, and with certain adjustments to teaching she was able to achieve well.

MrsJayy · 04/03/2016 11:15

Thats true development delay can be because of prematurity

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 04/03/2016 11:30

Mrsjay I object to the thread and see it as othering for the same reason as poster who said

i do wish others would try to understand what it's like to live with SN day in day out, and realise that they're just as much our lovely children whom we love to bits, just like their children are, and realise that everyone is as much a part of society as each other.

I hope you don't find that insulting.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 04/03/2016 11:30

And obviously you know what it's like to live with SN more than I do.

Samcro · 04/03/2016 11:31

FanjofortheMammaries I agree

MrsJayy · 04/03/2016 11:37

I just cant see it as othering fanjo not this time and i usually see your point on most things

MrsJayy · 04/03/2016 11:38

I didnt find the bolded bit insulting no

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 04/03/2016 11:43

Just the whole idea of kids with SN as a separate entity to be discussed I guess.

applecatchers36 · 04/03/2016 11:44

A combination of factors, better / quicker diagnosis and greater awareness to be sure. Also older parents, use of medical techniques like IVF, premature babies surviving but with developmental delay or other additional needs. Also inter family marriages in some areas, we see this in London a fair bit as I work in the NHS in child services.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 04/03/2016 11:45

The day kids are all just kids, some of whom need some support will be a happy day for me.

Branleuse · 04/03/2016 11:49

The higher functioning ones are better diagnosed, and the lower functioning ones are allowed to be seen as part of society instead of institutionalised and the parents told to just try again

CreamofTartar · 04/03/2016 11:50

I have lived with a Sn for nearly 45 years i know exactly what its like all this talk of othering like people are being smug is insulting back in the day when kids were called spaz mong thick stupid sitting in a class lost and lonely was quite frankly shite and if any child can be assisted in anyway get through a day has to be a good thing its not othering to say kids were put away because it is fact

But no one's said that at all, or anything like it.