The latest news from the U.K. is a portent for governments everywhere.
Headlines:
BBC News: Councils warn of 'total collapse' in special needs system
The special educational needs and disabilities system for children in England faces "total collapse" and the government must not "keep ducking" reforms, council leaders have warned.
The County Councils Network, which represents some of England's largest local authorities, said councils had deficits which will reach £4.4bn [$5.8B] a year by the end of this parliament in 2029, as they struggled to cope with increased demand. . . .
There were 638,745 EHCPs in place in January 2025, up 10.8% on the same point last year.
The number of new plans which started during 2024 also grew by 15.8% on the previous year, to 97,747.
Daily Mail: At least 59 councils 'face total collapse' from SEND costs
Town halls staggering under 'unimaginable' £18bn [$24B] debt after explosion in autism and ADHD diagnosis - but outcomes are NOT improving
Dozens of councils face 'total collapse' under the burden of spiralling SEND education costs, a shocking report warned today.
At least 59 councils could go bankrupt overnight when deficits of around £18billion [$24B] are formally added to their books.
The County Councils Network pointed to the huge rise in liabilities following an 80 per cent spike in the number of education, health and care plans issued since 2019. ECHPs set out an entitlement to support for children with conditions such as autism and ADHD.
Guardian: Special needs services in England face ‘total collapse’ from increasing demand
Special educational needs services in England face “total collapse”, with councils on course to have run up debts of £18bn [$24B] by the end of the decade as a result of increasing numbers of children requiring extra teaching support in schools.
This is a pretty dire situation, but it isn’t like they couldn’t see this coming.
In September there was a story in IFS entitled,
England’s SEND crisis: costs, challenges and the case for reform.
The rise in the numbers of children with SEND has been staggering. Since 2018, the number of pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) – legal documents guaranteeing tailored support for individual pupils judged to have the most severe needs – has increased by nearly 80%, from under 3% of pupils to over 5%. Over the same period, high-needs funding has risen by over £4 billion [$5B] – or more than 50% – in real terms, absorbing more than half of the total increase in school funding since 2019.
Putting SPED debt off the books
And even this big increase in funding has not kept pace with what is actually spent. This is because EHCPs create legally binding entitlements to specific forms of support – with little regard for affordability or whether high-quality support exists. As a result, councils have been running deficits each year. These have accumulated over time, with the latest estimates putting the cumulative total around £8 billion [$10.5B] by March 2027. The government is allowing these overspends to be kept off the books to avoid financial collapse. This accounting fudge (technically known as the statutory override) has recently been extended to March 2028, but this is just putting off the inevitable date when these deficits will have to be addressed (almost certainly with a bail-out from central government).
What is driving the rapid rise in numbers?
Almost all of the growth in the number of EHCPs reflects rising diagnoses of autism, ADHD, and speech and language needs. These trends are not unique to England; many high-income countries are seeing similar increases in autism and ADHD.
DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL
There is some evidence of rising needs, but much of the increase reflects improved recognition of needs that were always there. In particular, greater awareness and lower diagnostic thresholds mean that more needs are recognised and understood than was previously the case.
Notice that the explosion in special needs students is due to AUTISM, ADHD, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE NEEDS.
Incredibly as the hordes of neurologically damaged children cause local economies to implode in England (and everywhere else in the U.K. and Ireland), the “really big lie about autism” lives on. That is the absurd claim that there have always been this number of disabled children around, we just didn’t recognize it.
(England has had laws mandating the education of special needs children since 1970, so it’s clear on the surface that something terrible and unprecedented is happening to children in the 21st century.)
And what’s happening in England will eventually be happening here in the U.S.
On my website, Loss of Brain Trust ,
I post current stories about the decline of children worldwide. I started this chronicle in January 2017 and things have never stopped going downhill for children in today’s world.
One quote I have posted on my site is from Robert Kennedy Jr., and it sums things up quite well.
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
THE EFFECT, NEVER THE CAUSE
Not only are our children adrift in a sea of developmental disorders affecting one in every six U.S. children (according to the CDC), but once rare health problems are now common: diabetes, seizure disorder, GI disorders, arthritis, life-threatening allergies, asthma and more.
Mainstream medicine and our federal health agencies have shown total indifference to the end of the healthy child. Both of these entities are mere extensions of the pharmaceutical industry whose goal is profit above all else.
Another quotation I like to cite refers to the media:
The two most misguided notions held in America: Our government wouldn’t really do that to us; if they did, they would tell us about it on TV.
--Anonymous
I realize that there’s a misconception here.
THE MEDIA DOES TELL US ABOUT HOW BAD THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN IS TODAY—BUT THEY DO IT IN A WAY TO CONVINCE US IT’S THE NEW NORMAL. We can never ask why it’s happening.
I truly believe that they want the public to simply accept the fact that today’s kids are chronically ill and disabled.
On Loss of Brain Trust I’ve now gathered OVER 11,000 stories telling us that more and more children can’t learn like children have always been expected to learn.
It is rare that anyone ventures a guess at why it’s happening.
In the coverage I cited from the Guardian, Daily Mail and the BBC, we’re told all about the shocking increases in special needs children, but no one is telling us where all these children are coming from. And no one seems concerned that there’s never an end to the increases.
When I started Loss of Brain Trust back in 2017 the U.S. autism rate was one in 68 children, one in 42 boys. Today it’s one in 31 children, one in 19 boys. In 2007 it was one in 150 children, one in 92 boys and it’s steadily increased every couple of years to the point we’re at today (except if you’re in California where it’s one in 19 children, one in 12 boys). No one in authority has ever shown alarmed over the numbers, with the exception of the current HHS head, Robert Kennedy Jr.
ALWAYS MORE AND MORE NEWS REPORTS
Six months ago, back in May, 2025, I reached 10,000 stories on my site. I wrote about it in 10,000 stories: The sickest generation of children.
I was sure that it wouldn’t be too long before I’d be writing about 11,000 stories, and here I am today well past 11,000 news reports.
Just skimming the headlines on my site calls for answers. What we’re seeing here is the EFFECT, not the CAUSE. Something really bad is happening to children and right now our schools, especially in the U.K. and Ireland, are imploding.
Clearly the media tells us what’s happening; the problem is no one cares why it’s happening.
Here are some of the most recent stories. . .
UK
England:
Meanwhile, soaring SEND costs are putting the financial sustainability of councils at risk, the report highlights.
It notes that high-needs funding - money dedicated to meeting special educational needs and alternative provision - grew by two-thirds between 2012-13 and 2025-26, from £6.7 billion [$8.8B] to £11.1 billion [$15B] . . . .
Surrey:
More than 800 Surrey children requiring Send provision were out of school for about a third of the academic year in 2023-24, according to figures uncovered by local MPs
Lincolnshire:
Lincolnshire's special schools are full to capacity, despite a council saying it has invested more than £100m [$132M] in expanding them. . . .
Lincolnshire County Council said there had been a 77% increase in demand for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) support in the last five years
Mr Smith said the number of maintained EHCPs had increased from 5,119 in 2020 to 9,081 by August 2025. . . .
The school has 770 students and 30% of them have special educational needs.
"It's a high number," head teacher Rachael Skelton said. . . .
Scotland:
In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 9,960 children face delays of up to 3.9 years as parents speak of the "emotional devastation" at being unable to get the help they need.
More than 28,000 Scots children are on waiting lists for autism and ADHD assessments – with some waiting four years without an appointment.
"We are investing an additional £500,000 [$658,000] this year to improve access to support for children, young people and families. . .
Maidenhead:
In RBWM, there are now more than 2,000 children and young people in the borough with an EHCP [Education, Health and Care Plan], an increase of nearly 45 per cent since 2019.
Hertfordshire:
Specialist places for children aged 4–11 with Learning Difficulties (LD) and Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) will increase from 100 to 126 pupils from September 2026.
The need for special school places is rapidly increasing. Despite increasing the number of funded places in special schools by 867 since 2019/20, representing a 37% increase, there remains a significant number of children who cannot access a specialist place. . . .
In the past two years, we have created over 550 special school places and placed over 300 children in the independent sector. Added to this, by January 2026, we will have created almost 200 places (since 2023) in specialist resourced provisions attached to mainstream schools. . . .
Somerset:
Heartbreaking stories of children and families that are being let down by a broken system.
Demand for education and health care plans has gone up by 132 per cent in five years.
There are 6,052 children with SEND in Somerset. . . .
Regardless, the current system means that we have an eye-watering cumulative budget deficit. . .
Buckinghamshire:
At the start of this year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that Buckinghamshire Council was facing a £44.3m [$58M] funding deficit linked to special education plans.
Data recorded by the LDRS showed that the rising number of children needing education, health and care plans (EHCPs) was putting a great strain on the authority’s services. . . .
Over 7,000 EHCPs were maintained by the council at the start of 2025.
Over a 10-year period a 112% rise in demand for EHCPs has been recorded, according to figures from the LDRS.
Derbyshire:
In Derbyshire, the latest figures published by the authority in October show 8,778 children have an education, health and care plan (EHC Plan). . .
This represents a 135 per cent increase since 2020, alongside a 30 per cent surge in EHC assessment requests since 2014 to 2,058 in the last year. Meanwhile, the council says only 35 per cent of EHC plans were issued on time in 2024.
Wandsworth:
Wandsworth Council has invested £41 million [$54M] in expanding SEND provision in the borough, creating over 271 places since 2021. This investment is part of the Council’s ongoing commitment to ensuring every child in Wandsworth can access high-quality education close to home.
Worcestershire:
"We also welcome the £7.1 million [$9.3M] High Needs Capital Grant from the Department for Education for 2025/26, which is being used to deliver the current capital programme and support improvements in SEND provision across the county. . . .
U.S.
Iowa City, IA:
Student aggression is a noticeable trend in Iowa City elementary schools
During the 2024-25 school year, there were 139 reported instances of students injuring staff members, according to data presented to the school board. Almost all injuries were caused by students with individualized education plans (IEPs), and the majority occurred at the elementary school level.
Twenty-two injuries were reported at the secondary level
Seventy-five percent of injured staff were in special education positions, including a special education paraeducator, a behavior interventionist, or a special education teacher.
Charlottesville, VA:
Construction officially kicked off this week at the Virginia Institute of Autism’s new Webb building, home of the future James C. Hormel Day School. . . .
The Hormel School will double the size of VIA’s current school building space and will serve 80 students, a goal they have been chasing for quite some time.
Elon, NC:
Elon University is launching North Carolina’s first university-based private school dedicated to serving children with dyslexia, the school announced on Thursday. . . .
The academy will enroll between 150 and 200 students once fully operational, with no more than a dozen children per classroom.
New York State:
Two decades ago, far fewer kids were being identified. But in the past 20 years,the number of students in New York receiving special education has jumped by more than 36%. . . .
Experts say the rise doesn’t necessarily mean more kids are struggling — it may mean more are being properly identified and supported. Schools are getting better at recognizing learning differences
Jacksonville, AR:
Director of Finance Kyle Hunt told the board the district’s special‑education maintenance of effort (MOE) obligations have increased substantially over recent years and that continuing on the current trajectory could become unsustainable.
“Our projection for this year, by the end of the year, is we will have spent $5,200,000,” Hunt said, describing an increase from about $4.39 million in an earlier year. He said some high‑need students are supported by one‑to‑one paraeducator pairs that carry very large ongoing costs and that adding in‑district behavioral specialists could reduce that reliance. . . .
Hunt said there are roughly 60 elementary students in life‑skills classes and about 30 one‑to‑one para assignments in elementary; staff have added about 12 new one‑to‑ones this year for safety.
Sioux Falls, SD:
The Sioux Falls School District saw slightly fewer students this year, but overall there's an increase in diversity, an increase in the number of students receiving special education services. . .
Just under 18% of students qualify for special education services and supports outlined by an individualized education plan (IEP), and another nearly 3,000 students are on 504 plans, which outline accommodations to make sure kids have equitable access to learn. . . .
Beloit, WI:
On Monday, the Turner School Board approved its 2025-2026 tax levy and budget, which calls for about $21.69 million in spending from its general fund and $3.83 million in special education spending.
The general fund budget is projected to be 3.6% higher than in 2024-2025 and its special education fund spending would see a 9.7% increase.
Jefferson Co, KY:
There are more than 1,000 additional students in JCPS’s Exceptional Child Education (ECE) program this year compared to 2020.
The program serves students with educational disabilities, and during that same time, the number of JCPS students diagnosed with autism has risen by 80%.
Manchester, NH:
Approximately 26% (3,065) of the 11,583 students in Manchester were receiving special education services through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) as of Oct. 1, a number well above the 20% of the student population across New Hampshire that receive such services. . . .
“Nationally, there have also been sharp increases in the Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD, which is up by 30 to 40%, other health impairment, or OHI, some of us would know that as ADHD, or anxiety related disorders, it’s up by 20% and speech and language, or SLI, has also increased by 25%.”
In the Manchester School District, autism spectrum disorder numbers rose from 408 students last year to 533 students this year, a 31% increase. Other health impairment identification increased from 520 students last year to 868 students this year — an increase of 67%. . . .
The average additional cost to educate one student with an IEP in New Hampshire was $31,093 in 2024, up 5.2% from 2023. The average cost to educate one student without an IEP in New Hampshire in 2024 was $18,719, a 1.6% increase from 2023.
In 2024, 70 (or 40%) of New Hampshire public school districts spent over 25% of their total school expenditures on IEP expenses, an increase of 10 districts from 2023.
Toms River, NJ:
Facing rising costs of special education, Toms River Regional Schools introduced a plan to hub those classes and possibly bring in other children with special needs from around the county. . . .
“Out of 14,500 kids that translates to about 3200 students in special education and with them over the last seven years, has seen an increase in our budget from 39 million to 75 million dollars,” said Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent Michael Citta.
Maine:
Sarah Wilkinson, Maine Education Association member, said 20% of Maine’s K-12 students receive special education services and any cuts will directly impact students and their families.
AND THAT’S JUST A SMALL SAMPLE. Imagine 11,000 stories just like these. (And I don’t devote a lot of time to this; what’s out there in total is unbelievable.)
It’s easy to predict the future with almost 100 percent certainty. The same governments that can’t afford to educate the tidal wave of disabled children flooding their schools will finally face total bankruptcy when this generation enters adulthood and is dependent on social services for support and care, especially as aging parents are no longer able to do so.
On September 13th a prolific writer on the subject in the U.K., Jane Wills, wrote this timely piece for the Conservative Woman.
There aren’t enough special schools to cope with the autism boom
. . .We have no choice but to address the underlying causes of this problem before it gets any worse. For far too long, the rise in demand has been explained away. We are told it is down to improved awareness, better access to diagnosis and a more inclusive approach.
However, Amber Dellar, the author of the Institute for Government report, does open the door to a more honest approach.
She reports: ‘The pandemic appears to have triggered a global surge in mental health difficulties among children and young people. Similarly, the increase in speech and language needs has been linked to reduced early-life interaction among “lockdown babies”. And long waiting lists for children’s mental health care and cuts to services like children’s centres mean schools are increasingly relied on to provide support.’
Unlike others, she is acknowledging that there is a significant rise in demand. She can see that something is causing it. It is not all about better or over-diagnosis and benefit fraud.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
We are getting closer to the fundamental questions that need to be asked:
How did so many of our precious children get so sick and disabled that they are unable to learn?
What has gone wrong and what can we do about it?
How can we reverse the trend before it cripples our entire society?
Is there anything more important?
Time has run out, and we have to act fast if there is any hope of turning things around. The ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM for over two decades, of course, is the claim that injecting live viruses and known toxins into children, starting at birth, has resulted in incalculable neurological and immune system damage.
This has been adamantly denied by everyone in mainstream medicine, government oversight agencies, and especially in the media. The consequences of even timidly discussing the possibility would be, for many, unthinkable, but the evidence is overwhelming.
We can clearly see the EFFECT of these practices. It’s time to finally admit the CAUSE.
Luke 8:17: “For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.“
Thank you for your posts. As Catherine Austin Fitts has said for many years, we're living in the age of The Great Poisoning.
To add to the crisis, in the states, special ed teaching is a thankless job with very high turnover. I suspect it has to do with poor upper-level management. They care more about not getting sued than supporting their teachers.