Over 2 in 5 Scottish children in school have ASN

[Dontletthebedbugsbite2]

This seems like a huge amount of children with additional support needs, the numbers have doubled since 2014. Why is this? This includes mental health problems, autism spectrum disorder and also things like dyslexia.

I feel sorry for all of these children who need additional support and are unable to access it at school, I also feel sorry for teachers struggling to manage the needs of ever growing class sizes & children without adequate support. It seems like a ticking time bomb.

“Additional support needs “ doesn’t necessarily mean a diagnosis. I don’t know the Scottish system but i assume like in England it is hard to get a diagnosis and most kids dont get it til the end of primary, so the 2 in 5 figure must be children the school has identified as needing additional support, That could be for a range of reasons in addition to autism or learning difficulties. I would take a guess that the main factors are poverty and isolation during covid. Parental substance abuse is also likely to be higher in scotland than elsewhere and affects children in the womb.

Agree, suspect if both my kids had started in their current suitable school, only one would have a diagnosis and even that, I suspect it would've been much later on.

No, of course ASN is a broad range of need, the data is poor, and it is in many cases interlinked with poverty.

Some parents fight endlessly for their kids, and some parents won't engage at all and turn down interventions.

For some reason the spreadsheet wasn’t filled for 2024, so here is 2023’s data on reasons for ASN (some children are recorded several times under different criteria). Crazily ADHD is not recorded by schools (generally put under SEBD). Young carers are hugely undercounted - nearly every siblings of a child with a medical or drug misuse ASN will be a young carers.

I agree with most of the above but I find that some parents push for a diagnosis because parents tend to know best and/or they get payment and its back dated. Someone at work was boasting about this, her child manages very well. The children who have real difficulties living a "normal" life absolutely deserve it to help with their support. I think diagnosis is to easily done i work with ASN pupils and it feels like every second child has something despite coping with their lives well exam time is impossible, they all need separate rooms and therefore a staff member. We are a fortunate school but we still don't have enough staff or spare rooms. I honestly do believe that for some its the financial incentive, I hear it all the time.

Mainstream Private school ASN levels are not comparable to those in state schools. They only take ASN children who can achieve academically with support ie not those who need a high level of input to gain three Nat 2s. I suspect the numbers are also taken from exam access arrangements. I do not think the private schools are accessing these inappropriately but rather they are more invested in ensuring all children’s exam needs are met.

The dyslexia figures are surprisingly low. Is that just because schools don’t bother putting resources into dyslexia?

I also feel sorry for the other kids in the class, who are being taught that their needs don't matter and that they have to accept violent and disruptive behaviour from some of the SEN pupils with unmet needs.

@WarmingClothesontheRadiator although re private - the key word there is 'can achieve' - neither of my dc would be achieving (and they weren't) under the current options available.

The exam adjustments - I'm sure my dd looks like one of those stats - she can go absolutely aggressively mad if any exam arrangements are changed to the point where she ran off for so long with her phone locator off we were just about to call the police to help find her.

It's incredibly difficult to get a school to put a child forward for a dyslexia assessment unless they are at the very high end of it. Often parents are told their child is lazy or disruptive if lower down the scale/can cope with some elements.

It's also not cheap to get the assessment done privately and for it to be accepted by a school it's around £700 starting price. So many (like me) who aren't very severe but would benefit from extra time in exams don't get it because LA funds are limited on who they will send for testing.

It runs very strongly in my family so we will be keeping a close eye on both DS's and pay for a assessment privately but we are privileged in being able to afford to do so. Don't get me wrong it's still a lot of money but I have seen first hand the effects (especially in boys) of it being ignored and them becoming disconnected from education as a result.

I don't believe it is just increasing diagnoses. I think use of technology has a huge part to play. The number of very young kids who use upads and smartphones is disturbing and it will affect brain development.

I think there might be multiple reasons for it.
As previous posters have said, increased awareness is a huge factor. I think there are probably other factors too though not every factor will apply in every instance obviously.

For example:
Innovations and improved care mean that premature babies survive at increasingly younger ages and in increasing numbers. There may be impacts on the brain from immaturity for some children. Similarly for babies who are born at term but have traumatic or difficult births. We know of things like cerebral palsy that are caused by lack of oxygen at birth but there may be other more subtle effects too.

Epigenetics. Some genes get switched on or off according to the individual being exposed to certain things, eg one theory about Parkinson's disease is that it is a result of epigenetic changes caused by exposure to certain chemicals in the environment.
Over the last 100 years we have been increasingly exposed to modern chemicals/foods/pollutants etc in a way that previous generations were not. It might be possible that exposure of grandparents and parents have caused cumulative epigenetic changes that have resulted in more neurodiversity in offspring.
The eggs of a female are developed while that child is still in the womb. When my mother was born in the 1930s the eggs she developed, one of which grew into me would have been less affected by modern chemicals . Children in school now may have grandparents who were born in the 60s and 70s with much more exposure to modern chemicals. This may be why it is only being seen now! We know that some chemicals can have an effect on the motility and quality and number of male sperm. Maybe there are also epigenetic effects here that also result in a growing number of children with additional needs.

I know there is a lot of supposition here but I wouldn't be surprised if it is all having an impact.

Apparently on in ten children has dyslexia. Therefore it could be the opposite - that it is something they try to address ‘universally’ (whether you consider this input successful is moot) and they only bother to put forward more ‘extreme’ children for diagnosis. Doesn’t help at exam time though.

although re private - the key word there is 'can achieve' - neither of my dc would be achieving (and they weren't) under the current options available.

I get that though in my experience brighter kids who get failed don’t get Nat 2s or 3s. They fall out of school.

Over the last 100 years we have been increasingly exposed to modern chemicals/foods/pollutants etc in a way that previous generations were not.

I think your Victorian ancestors with their doctored food, lead pipes and coal fires might disagree with that. The type of chemicals have changed though.

Agree @WarmingClothesontheRadiator they can't attend.

That's why I said modern chemicals. We have some idea about the problems that lead pipes, arsenic paint and smog have caused. Less so more modern chemicals eg plastics. I'm concerned that while we have improved on the known Victorian problems the more subtle epigenetic effects of eg plastics, modern food additives etc are less known