As a teacher to be surprised at how many in my class have SEN?

[Floatingcactus]

I teach a reception class of 26. 4 of them have an EHCP plan, 6 are waiting assessment and at least another 4 are showing possible signs of SEN including speech delay.

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and I personally believe there is an increase.
I don’t know if lockdown plays a part or whether it’s down to other factors.

Might it also be that parents are self-selecting into your school if they know or suspect their child has SEN? My DD's primary school has a long history of doing well for children with SEN (it is mentioned on all their ofstead reports, going back years and years), and I know from chatting to other parents that it's quite common for people to put it as a first choice school for that reason. There are always higher-than-average numbers of children with SEN in the school.

Because in some of these children early intervention would have meant that their speech/language/development delay would have been picked up and addressed and so they would not have SEN by the time they reached full time education.

Everyone is quick to blame parenting. No one is willing to look at the obvious. People are having children later in life. It is a fact that the chances of having an autistic child increase with the others age.

Then there is increased awareness.

There is also only one educational route in this country now. Children are expected to stay in school until they are 18. Every child goes to school together regardless of ability. My parents are in their 70s. Mum is autistic and was academically behind. She went to a school that taught her how to cook, sew and type. So she could work in the typing pool until she got married and pregnant. There was low skilled but reasonably paid work for her to go into when she left school at 16.

There is nothing like that now. Every child is forced into the same system when the system does not work for everyone.

I think the constant over stimulation of young brains is an enormous problem. Obviously doesn’t cause ASD - but there are many other issues that it could explain.

I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find a class that didn't have between 1/3 and 1/2 of children with additional needs at primary school. That's my experience.

It's unfair to children and staff. The funding isn't there and needs are going unmet as I can't stretch myself any thinner.

People are more likely to be diagnosed younger now (this is a good thing). Ds2 was diagnosed with asd at 14, his uncle was mid 40s before he got his diagnosis.

A speech therapist on the news recently gave some shocking statistics. She was working in schools in deprived areas and I cant remember the exact percentage, but pretty much half the class had speech delays since Lockdown.

The government shut down nurseries, schools, Health Vistors didnt do their normal visits (I know that from a friend who had a baby in Lockdown - HV wouldn’t see her in the garden!), all toddler groups shut down etc. There are going to be some serious consequences for years to come.

I do think awareness of SEN has obviously increased over the years (we dont just stick the ‘naughty’ kids at the back of the class anymore), but Lockdown has obviously had a huge impact on children’s learning, speech, social interaction etc. So im not surprised at all what teachers are facing at the moment.

People are also so quick to blame parenting when more than ever two parents are working full time.

Maybe we need to look at the nursery model?!

Do you even know what ADHD is? Or what the criteria are for diagnosis? Because i don't think you have a clue.

It's a difference in brain development. It's not just a child being hyperactive and over stimulated.

Our LA has a real issue with reception start specialist places. There's 4 ehcps in ours and 3 qualify for specialist. They are having to hold on for year 1.

Actual science is available @Fancysauce.

At dds school, the older kids dominate the toilets at break and lunch so they can vape, and abuse anyone who tries to get in to actually use the toilet. The school are pathetic at dealing with it and there was a phase of yr 7 & 8s requesting toilet passes.

Are there behaviour issues at your school? Maybe take a look at the toilet situation!

There is that, but I also think there are several factors at play and not just that one

-increased awareness
-Covid and lockdown

are the two major ones though, there are others at play but without sounding controversial I don’t want to mention them

In my nursery we have seen a huge increase in SEN and behaviour issues. You could leave a painting activity unattended a few years ago while you helped another child and the children were capable of carrying on sensibly. The last couple classes you can’t do that with out the activity being spoiled. We used to go on trips out but we have too many high needs children who wouldn’t be safe to take out in the ratios of adult to children that we have.
On one day in a group of 24 (ratio 1:8) we have two children who can have dangerous behaviours (suspected ASD) three children who can’t sit and concentrate (possible ADHD) and many who simply can’t play together in an age appropriate way. Of our group we probably only have half what I’d consider typical 3/4yo ability.

In the younger years there are four being monitored for ASD already.

There really is a massive increase in the last few years. Could be lockdowns, could be high technology use, softer parenting or environmental but something is going on. As a society we need to figure it out as this generation will be caring for us one day!

I've heard there are huge challenges from contacts in primary schools local to us. The number of SEN students has rocketed. Many children (including those without additional needs) are not toilet-trained. Behaviour issues. Toothbrushes kept in the pre- school so kids can brush their teeth in school because it isn't happening at home.
Lots more children with speech and language issues.
I am not sending my kids to any of these. The teachers are overwhelmed and the needs of all students aren't being met.

Sorry @Fancysauce - that reply was meant for @Moonicorn

From a statistical point of view you can't just state that 2/3 of a single class of 24 having various SEN is high. For one thing 24 is a small number. If you had 2/3 with SEN every class, every year, every school, that's a change.

I have two year 13 classes of 18-20. One has 7 students with SEN (which manifests itself as extra time in exams at that stage, variation in processing times, slower reading, poorer ability to concentrate in class etc) and the other has 2. That's probably natural variation.

The other thing is SEN students often cluster in some schools because the school has a good reputation for SEN, so it's a self-fulfilling thing.

One thing you can do as a teacher is teach everyone in a SEN friendly way.

In reception I imagine the differences in capability are enormous though so that must be very challenging.

I agree with pp that this is a complex area with multiple issues. From working in schools and from personal experience. As an example, 15 years ago a reception class had 2 out of 30 on the sen register. But following that class through education, there are now many more who were diagnosed with additional needs at secondary. Looking at reception classes today, there is much more awareness of indicators for neurodiversity meaning these children have interventions earlier - leading to better outcomes. But there is also more developmental delay which leads to Sen such as speech delay, social understanding and emotional needs - these are not necessarily lifelong and would have been picked up earlier with better preschool screening and intervention and access to support. The reasons for these delays are complex and mostly are not something can be 'blamed' on any one thing but do include COVID, lack of early support and lack of parenting skills. Support for these delays has been significantly reduced due to both COVID and budget cuts. The children who are already behind when they start school struggle to catch up and lead to an increasing need for intervention in their education as they get older. We have a ticking time bomb which is having a significant effect on mainstream schooling which is not being addressed.

I'd also say my Y1 child has an ehcp covid meant he had 2 years without any support. He's still doubly incontinent and 18 months off the top of the wait list.

Im a special school teacher. Special schools are full, we don’t have enough places for all of the children who apply for a place. Very medically complex children are now surviving into and beyond childhood who wouldn’t have in the past, children with very complex needs are usually picked up in infancy, the EHCP process is relatively straight forward and these get on the list for a special school place straight away. As a result lots of children with less complex needs haven’t a hope of getting into a specialist setting and need to be accommodated within mainstream settings. Post-covid there are also more children whose additional learning needs aren’t being picked up on until nursery or even school. All this means the number of children with SEN in mainstream infant classes is likely to be getting higher.

With my 12yo with autism, I flagged up his speech at 2 when the HV visited baby, and it was the low end of average. When he was 3, his progress had stalled and he met the criteria for SALT intervention. The analysis by SALT and implementation through nursery (they could do group and focused tasks that aren't practical just through parenting) meant that he started yR with functional communication. Other traits of ASD became more apparent later, and mainly at home and referal/ dugnosis occurred age 7-9. He's a masker, and the extent that autism affects him isn't superficially obvious- it just explodes out at home after.

If DS hadn't had access to HVs and SALT, that gap would have been much greater on starting school, and would have had a greater impact on his ability to meet standards in the classroom. Aspects of his autism may have flagged up differently and earlier.

I can easily understand how the disruption to family life and support services in 2020/21 will have had an effect that's apparent across a cohort of children where underlying issues aren't managed early and a lot all emerging at the same time. It's also things like significantly reduced social experiences like toddler groups or even just regular activities like shopping. Going to different environments with DS encouraged talk about what we were doing/ seeing and meant more vocabulary was used.

I don't doubt that heavy amounts of screen time is affecting the development of young children, but that would be a more constant effect that's built up with time, rather than the abrupt differences within certain year groups that correlate with Covid restrictions and their toll on support services at certain stages of development.

Fortunately for us, DS was diagnosed shortly before the disruption began in 2020.

Lockdown and I wonder about the ever increasing rates of induced labours causing prematurity. There have been multiple studies on the cognitive effects of induction and yet the induction rate at our local hospital is near 40%

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/22/children-born-after-induced-labour-may-score-lower-in-tests-at-12

SEMH needs have definitely become more prevalent after lockdown, though I can't say I've noticed an increase in ASD etc in my own class.

What are people's views on how Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder may be contributing to this? I'm not judging, but high levels of alcohol consumption in women is a lot more common than it was in the past, and many people don't know they're pregnant until a few weeks/months in.

Our HT has been made aware that already over 50% of the new intake for this August have SENs which are known, likely to be more not yet diagnosed. This is a regular local primary. No idea how many PSAs will be needed to support the teacher & kids for this!