Our thanks to Nigel for this. He writes:
“There is rightly concern that this “diagnosing” results in the diagnosed becoming the young men on disability benefits once they leave school. However in recent years the diagnosing of ADHD and ASD in girls has rocketed so in a few years we’ll see similar leap up of young women living a life on benefits.
I saw the drivers for this when I was working. Having a child with SEN not only has benefits in school (teaching assistants, free Tech. and being able to get rid of boys to specialist “units” or schools) but also for the parents who can claim benefits based on the care needs of their child. So you end up with families with all their children SEN. What really started off as a means to deal with failures in classroom and behavioural management of boys has become a huge machine. I suppose it spreading to girls is some form of “equality”.
The start of the article in the Express:
“Former health secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt has backed a new study that warns huge numbers of children are being wrongly diagnosed with mental illness or special needs when many are simply feeling sad or misbehaving. One in five school pupils is now classed as having special educational needs (SEND).
Half of all schools’ spending since 2015 has gone on SEND, with costs hitting £11billion a year in 2024-25. More than £1.1billion will be spent on taxis alone for SEND students by 2030. Sir Jeremy said: “As a society, we seem to have lost sight of the fundamental reality that child development is a messy and uneven process.
“Our laudable desire to ensure young people are happy and well-supported is at times manifesting in excessive impulses to medicalise and diagnose the routine, in a manner that can undercut grit and resilience.”
If you’d like email notifications of our new blog pieces, please enter your email address in the box near the top of the right-hand column and click ‘Subscribe’.
We shall shortly be posting this piece on our X channel.
Our YouTube channel is here.
Justice for Men & Boys 
For parent who are aware that half of all schools’ spending since 2015 has gone on SEND, it surely makes (short-term) sense to have their child listed into this special programme and be one of the kids getting four times as much expenditure upon them as those not in the programme. Left to its natural conclusion. every child would end up diagnosed as having SEN – which is actually pretty much the reality: every child does have their own special needs in maximising their education!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. Which has powered the sudden and very steep rise in girls (in fact of course their parents) seeking a “diagnosis”. As I say an added dynamic is that this is effectively a “passport” to other benefits of all sorts for the parents and family. In effect the famies of girls have seen the benefits to their child and themselves and are now seeking to get hold of these. Then the passporting power of the “diagnosis” is passed on into the adult welfare system. For people with really serious difficulties this can be a boon. But overall it ends up creating a victim self image condemning many to a life of believing they are useless.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tragically ridiculous!! Interesting article!
LikeLike