"SEN" is not a condition and is not a diagnosis. If you're going to be ignorant, at least use correct terminology.
SEN refers to Special Education Need and is related to a child's learning.
A child has a Special Education Need if they have difficulty learning or making progress and require additional support in order to do so.
The four areas of Special Education Need are:
- Communication and interaction: Difficulties with understanding or expressing themselves
- Cognition and learning: Difficulties with learning or processing information
- Social, emotional, and mental health: Difficulties with social skills, emotions, or mental health
- Sensory and/or physical needs: Difficulties with hearing, sight, or physical mobility
A child does not need to have a recognised diagnosis, a disability, or be under assessment, many children without these on the SEN register as it entirely reflects need.
It is common for children to move on and off the SEN register as they progress through school. Some will be on it a short time, will catch up to where they're supposed to be, and then will come off it. Some will be on there for their entire school career.
To give an example, a child making less than expected progress with reading or maths can be added to the SEN register as they need support over and above standard classroom provision in order to learn/progress. Would you say we're over-pathologising reading or numeracy...? Or do you just save your bigotry for disabilities?
SN refers to Special Needs, namely a disability and/or other conditions and this means a child has difficulty accessing education in the same way as their peers and so requires adjustments and/or support in order to do so. It does not refer only to neurodevelopmental conditions such as ASC or ADHD, it can mean children with sight/hearing impairments, epilepsy, diabetes, SMA, limb differences, EDS, and so on - there are a varied range of disabilities.
A child can have SN and absolutely no learning needs, in which case their support requirements will relate entirely to access and support managing their needs.
A child can have SEN and absolutely no SN, in which case their support will relate entirely to learning.
A child can have both and need support across the board.
The rise in children with SEN (learning needs) is largely down to factors such as covid-led gaps in education, social factors such as the increase in poverty over the last fourteen years, closure of early intervention services such as Sure Start, and lack of education funding alongside decreases in education staff.
The rise of children with neurodevelopmental conditions is, in part, due to neurodivergent adults having children as there is a strong genetic link. Diagnostic provision has improved and there is greater recognition of spectrum conditions and their impact upon the individual.
People with neurodevelopmental conditions have always existed, the genes we currently know are associated with neurodevelopmental conditions date back over 100,000 years (and research is on-going to identify other genes associated with neurodevelopmental conditions), genetic testing now usually forms part of the diagnostic process. Through our history there is documented evidence suggesting neurodevelopmental behaviours, for example there is on-going historical debate around changelings and whether many of these could have been autistic children as the "symptoms" described fit with what we now know are potentially markers of autism. There is a long history of individuals with intellectual differences. Autism and ADHD did not suddenly spring up from nowhere.
As for it being used to excuse bad parenting.... Jesus fucking Christ, I thought this myth died out years ago.
There are shitty parents everywhere. Some of them will have neurotypical children, some of them will not and the two things are not related. Shitty parents will always try and find an excuse to absolve them from parenting because that is what shitty parents do. You cannot diagnosis a condition that is not present and the diagnostic process is set up to screen out people like this, if anything this leads to under-diagnosis and gatekeeping of assessment processes. You cannot just rock up to a clinic and say "my kid is naughty" and walk away with a diagnosis and a box of Ritalin.
Perhaps you need to educate yourself before spouting off?