To ask, if you’re a teacher

[Playingvideogames]

How many children in your class are diagnosed with autism or ADHD?

I often see the ‘1%’ quoted, but my anecdata is a lot higher than this.

This isn’t a value judgement thread btw, I’m truly just curious to see the responses and if they align with the ‘official’ statistic.

Varies year to year. A couple of years ago I had a Y6 class where by the end of the year there were 6 children with an ASC diagnosis, one also had an ADHD diagnosis as well.
Last year I had a year 5 class where 2 children had ADHD diagnosis, 2 had a combined ADHD/ASC diagnosis and 3 other children were awaiting diagnosis.
This year my class has 2 children with ADHD and one with ADHD and ASC.
Looking at our junior classes across the school it varies between 3-10 per class.
For context, I work in an outstanding school in an urban area. We have a mix of private and CAMHS diagnosis.
The 1% figure is not reflective of my school, or others I know.

There are less diagnosed children, but I'd say for every class (I teach a core subject) there are at least 1/5 of students that have some sort of SEN. I'm not an educational psychologist so it's not for me to label them, but certainly along the ASD / ADHD / Slow processing / dyslexia / dysgraphia lines.

And there always have been. I guess a few more are diagnosed now. But they were always there.

Teacher training is SO far behind in readying teachers to cope with this. We're victorian really, in our attitude towards education.

Last year, 9 out of 31 had an ASD diagnosis or were going through the process. Some of these also had ADHD. X

That’s actually higher than my anecdata (around 4 per class). I definitely think the figures are hugely outdated and extremely inaccurate at this point.

25% of my Y6 class - all NHS diagnoses - a very disadvantaged area.

Wow, so my estimate was actually on the lower side, which I didn’t expect.

1% would be very very old data. That's only 1 child from about 3 classes. Most classes I've taught in the last 6 to 8 years have had between 2 and 4 per class. Some up to 6.

I'm a secondary teacher. I think on average I might have 4 with ADHD and same with autism diagnosis in a class of 25. Some classes are much higher.

Is that 8 children or fewer but with dual diagnoses?

8 but that's on average across them all.
I don't teach that many with a dual diagnosis. Often they'll have an ehcp so there is likely to be a TA with me. Otherwise I don't have one.

8 out of 25 is 32%! So about a third of the class.

I’m an SEN TA in a secondary. In our class there are two with autism and one with another SEN.

Ex secondary.

left two years ago.

we had nurture groups and I did teach a lot of nurture groups but they were all kids with EHCPs. Mostly autism.

the mainstream classes much lower. Yes to SEN but not so much autism.

the adhd kids we had tended not to be in class.

10 years ago I taught a class where 50% of the class had an IEP (don’t think they’re called that any more). Poor area so not many diagnosis as hardly any could afford private assessment. Couple diagnoses with ASD and about 6 who literally couldn’t read at the end of y6 so probably a few dyslexia diagnosis which hadn’t yet been made.

At least 1 in 10 kids are dyslexic so thats at least 3 in a class on average.

My child's class has 6 diagnosed asd/adhd children that I am aware of.

And then when you meet the parents, you see it was genetic!

My current year 6 cohort (60 children) has 45% of children with diagnosed SEND. Plus more on the waiting list for EHCPs.

6 of those are ASD, 2 more ADHD, 1 combined ASD and ADHD many SEMH and behaviour needs. Plus lots more with learning needs.
i am in a deprived area of a northern city.

I teach Reception and I have 1 autism diagnosis (although all being well, he will get a special school place soon!)
if you asked me how many I think will get/need a diagnosis then I have 4. Considering I work in a very small rural school is actually quite high!

30% of my class. Very poor area.

our rising year 7 cohort of approx 180, has 15 with EHCPs.

We have over 100 diagnosed with autism in a school of over 400. So more like 20%

In my most recent training (last month), I was told that out of 30 students, 5 will have a diagnosed need. I think accounting for undiagnosed, 8/30 is a more realistic average. Just with autism or ADHD (or both), I have 2 or 3 in every class

I teach a secondary core subject and in my y10 class, 4 have an EHCP, a further 7 are on our SEND register and supported under reasonable adjustments, 2 are EAL, 2 are LAC and one has complex medical needs. It's like this because we have 4 TAs for 600 students and this way, we can target their use in classes with high need or where TA presence is specified in an EHCP.

I'm a SENCO. Two form entry, inner city primary. 37% SEND, 17% autism (% of total roll)

This thread is eye opening. I thought 10% would be about right, but it seems more like 20% if I take an average from all responses. That is 20 times the stated figure.

I qualified as a teacher back in the mid 90s and the expectation at the time was that 20% of all children would be on the SEN register at some point in their primary school journey. But this included children with Speech and Language Delay and medical needs. As well as children with sight and hearing impairments. So the additional needs that were and are much easier to see.

Looking back over my 20 years in the classroom, I can think of many, many children who were likely to have some degree of ADHD and/or ASD. All undiagnosed as we didn’t really know enough to know what we were looking for (apart from when a child had very clear/strong signs of autism).

It Is therefore no surprise to me that many adults, particularly those over that age of 30, are seeking a diagnosis.

Nor does it surprise me that the diagnosis rates for children (and the waiting lists) have shot up.

I would estimate that in any given classroom, half of the children are dealing with something. ADHD, ASD, hearing, speech, medical
needs which impact their development, emotional difficulties and distress, Dyslexia. At least half.