(UK) Wales: 48 percent of children have special needs; more students still in diapers
New law requires parents to come to school to change diapers
SLOW DESCENT INTO MADNESS
A recent story from CBS Chicago clearly showed that the worldwide decline in the health of children continues.
Jan 12, 2025, UK parents outraged over new diaper changing rule at schools
VIDEO: Some parents in the U.K. are outraged over a new school policy. It requires them to come change their child’s diaper; they are not potty trained. . . .
This is a product of the Pandemic.
Every parent knows the challenge of potty training their child before it’s time to start school. But it doesn’t always happen, and some teachers in Britain have a new rule: IF your child needs a diaper change, you must come to school and do it yourself, sparking a debate at the school gate. . . .
The mandate comes from a county council in Wales where teachers where teachers say there’s been an increase in school aged children not being able to use the bathroom by themselves since COVID hit.
Claire Armitist, Welsh Trade Union Director: All over Wales, there are a number of schools really struggling with this because they have neither the money nor the resource to keep supporting children in this way.
Reporter: Teaching unions say some staff are having to deal wih children as old as eight who are still having accidents.
Laura Doel, National Secretary, National Trade Union: No child is going to be left in discomfort. Of course, they’re not, but there needs to be a joint responsibility here, and that’s what we’re supporting.
Reporter: And educators argue, the more time they spend on diaper duty, the less time they have to teach.
‘This is a product of the Pandemic’
Jan 3, 2025, U.K. Daily Mail: Parents of children who are not potty-trained told to come into school to change nappies themselves
Parents of children who are not potty-trained must come into their school to change nappies themselves, a council has warned.
The rule, which will be implemented when pupils go back to school for the new term on Monday, has been brought in because of the amount of time teachers are spending changing soiled nappies.
Laura Doel, leader of the National Association of Headteachers Cymru, said: 'We have had some school leaders reporting that an increasing number of children in school are not always hitting those key milestones before they arrive, including their self-care needs. . . .
Research has shown that up to a quarter of British children start school without being toilet-trained.
Things are going from worse to horrible in Wales.
Back in July, 2024 we learned that 48 percent of students in Wales have special needs.
Research: Nearly Half of Welsh Kids Have Learning Needs
A new study has highlighted the prevalence of additional learning needs, formerly known as special educational needs, among under 16-year-olds in Wales. . . .
The research and policy reports, led by the University of Bristol and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found nearly half (47.9%) of children born in 2002/2003 were identified with some form of additional learning needs (ALN) at some point during their schooling. This was shown to have the biggest impact on academic achievement across all Key Stages of their education.
So, are they just noticing these students more today?
Lead author Dr Cathryn Knight, Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Education at the University of Bristol, said: "Our findings clearly challenge the notion that learning needs only affect a minority of learners. Key common factors increasing the likelihood of being identified with SEN also emerged, emphasising the importance of recognising the child's environment and understanding their individual situation to effectively support their learning needs." . . .
41% of students in England have special needs too
The research mirrors similar national findings. Evidence from the Education Policy Institute in England also found a high level (40.7%) of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) identification.
MORE COVERAGE
January 16th, Warning Wales’ Additional Learning Needs reforms are not delivering
The architect of Wales’ additional learning needs system warned the reforms are not delivering on the aim of transforming support for children and young people.
Alun Davies, who steered the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Act through the Senedd, said the reforms had to deliver a sea change in learners’ experiences. . . .
But the Labour MS for Blaenau Gwent, who has been on the backbenches since 2017, said implementation of the legislation has not delivered some of the initial ambitions.
He told the Senedd: “All too often, I’m speaking to parents who have children with very real needs and those needs are not being met because the resources are simply not available. . . .
Ms Neagle acknowledged challenges with consistent implementation of the reforms, which are being phased in to replace the special educational needs system.
She said the Welsh Government has invested more than £60m [$73M] to support implementation, with £54m [$66M] budgeted for ALN in this year.
THE DARK FUTURE AHEAD FOR WALES
January 13th, Autism and ADHD waiting lists in Wales ‘could triple in two years’
The number of children waiting for an autism or ADHD assessment in Wales could nearly triple to 61,000 over the next two years, a committee has heard.
Sarah Murphy, Wales’ mental health minister, told the Senedd’s children’s committee that 20,770 children were waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment in September last year.
"The assessment we’ve got from the NHS Executive is that we’re going to see, by March 2027, between 41,000 to 61,000 people waiting for these assessments," she said. . . .
Speaking to ITV Wales, Wendy Thomas, Head of the National Neurodivergence Nervice in Wales, said: "There isn't just one solution to it. There's got to be a number of solutions.
"What we all want is that we don't have children waiting for a very long time on waiting lists. But, what we don't want to do either, is not have children accessing the support that they need if they do need it." . . .
She said health boards are bringing in additional capacity from the private sector in an effort to meet demand but cautioned that this is unsustainable.
January 12th, Wrexham.com: Autism and ADHD diagnosis delays in Wales could triple by 2027
. . .‘This cannot continue’
Ms Murphy said: “It will benefit the children and young people who have been waiting the longest and the money then is dependent on the delivery.”
“Increasing awareness”
Quizzed by Vaughan Gething, the former first minister who first brought her into government in May, she suggested the surge in demand was down to increasing awareness.
She added: “That assessment means a lot to children, young people and their families. I was speaking to the National Autistic Society yesterday and they said ‘we’ve raised so much awareness but now we need to ride that wave towards understanding and acceptance’.”
The Conservatives’ Joel James was alarmed to hear waiting lists could almost triple in two years, asking how ministers will intervene to ensure sustainable services.
December 11th, Supporting children with additional needs in schools in Wales faces 'significant challenges', warns watchdog
Reform of education for children with additional learning needs is inconsistent and there’s too much “variability” across Wales, school watchdog Estyn has warned. Although there has been progress there are “significant challenges”, inspectors said in a report today (DEC 11) evaluating the new system.
The new ALN system replaced the Special Educational Needs (SEN) system in September 2022. It applies to all learners, from birth through to college, regardless of their level of need.
But the Welsh Government’s own Children Young People and Education Committee has looked at concerns about what lies behind a fall in numbers of children judged as having ALN compared to SEN under the old method. The number of pupils recognised as having ALN has decreased by 44% since the new system started being rolled out in 2023-24 compared with 2020-21), which was not expected.
The Welsh Government’s explanation for the decrease has been that schools have reviewed their SEN/ALN registers and removed learners whose needs can be met through “holistic” or ‘universal’ provision. Also, a previous category of “general learning difficulties” is no longer included in SEN/ALN recording.
August 28th, Rise in [Welsh] pupils educated outside mainstream school
The number of pupils being educated outside school, including at pupil referral units, has risen to record levels in Wales.
Young people whose main education was not at school was at the highest ever, a record 2,279, according to annual figures from the Welsh government.
This is more than twice what it was in 2009-10 and 28% more than before the pandemic. . .
That is around 46% of all pupils being educated outside mainstream school and slightly down on the year before, but there has been a rise in pupils being educated by individual tutors.
The vast majority of those educated outside mainstream school are also classed as having additional learning or special needs. . . .
"This could be for a number of reasons, including physical and mental health issues and anxiety, which we know is an increasing concern for children and young people," said a spokesperson.
More and more special needs students written off as due to ‘increased awareness.’
AUTISM
Of course this is really about the increase in students with AUTISM in British schools. I keep going back to the report from 2022 where we were told exactly that.
Nov 5, 2022, Schools Week: SEND isn’t on the precipice – it’s tipped over the edge
Over half of the children and young people in special schools have a primary or secondary need of autism. For children in early years specialist settings, the figure is 65 per cent….
I’m not sure how long the absurd attempts to blame these increases on COVID or attribute them to greater awareness will continue, but eventually the numbers and the costs will demand we all face the truth about what is happening to children everywhere.
Just look at the ever-increasing stories on Loss of Brain Trust. How is it possible that elected officials and people in charge of education aren’t alarmed over all of this?
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
How is it that we just sit back and casually accept each and every increase in the number of disabled children as nothing new?
And when our official autism rate of one in 36 children, one in 22 boys is updated, probably this April, will anyone object when we’re once again told it’s the result of “better diagnosing”?
Don’t expect that any of our health officials will be worried about higher numbers. No one at the CDC has ever taken any real interest in autism.
Somehow, all this is totally acceptable to health officials around the world.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: ONE IN 29 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
Dec 27, 2023, The Progress: B.C. doctor urges support for new wave of neurodivergent employees in workforce
As of today, one in 29 children in British Columbia under the age of 19 have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to a 2022 report by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
AUSTRALIA: ONE IN 25 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
April 28, 2024, Guardian: How the rise of autism and ADHD fractured Australia’s schools
In classrooms today, an estimated 4% [1 in 25] of seven- to 14-year-olds now have a primary diagnosis of autism, while between 6% and 10% of children have ADHD.
SCOTLAND: ONE IN 23 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
April 6, 2024, Herald Scotland: Have Scottish schools learned to accept autistic pupils?
There are now 43 autistic pupils for every 1000 young people in our schools [1 in 23], up from just 10 per 1000 in 2010.
CALIFORNIA: ONE IN 22 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
2020: CDC.GOV: A Snapshot of Autism Spectrum Disorder in California
1 in 22 4-year-old children were children were 1.5 times as likely Or 4.5% of 8-year-old children to be identifed with ASD as identifed with ASD by the were identifed with ASD by the CA-ADDM program in 2020. White children. CA-ADDM program in 2020.
IRELAND: ONE IN 21 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
Dec 14, 2022, Cork Independent: Raised awareness from parents around autism
This kind of service is needed more now than it ever has been, as figures published this year by the Department of Health reveal that 14,000 children between the ages of four and 15 have an autism diagnosis - around 4.7 per cent [1 in 21] of the school population.
NORTHERN IRELAND: ONE IN 20 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
May 18, 2023, BBC News: Autism: Highest rate on record of NI children with diagnosis
One in 20 schoolchildren in Northern Ireland has a diagnosis of autism, according to figures published by the Department of Health (DoH).
NEWARK, NJ: ONE IN 20 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
Feb 7, 2023, Newark parents of children with autism face barriers to care as cases spike in New Jersey
Researchers at Rutgers University that as of 2020, 1 in 20 Newark children had been diagnosed with autism, compared with 1 in 167 in 2000.
FLORIDA: NEARLY ONE IN 20 CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
Aug 24, 2023, Boca Raton Tribune: ABA Centers of Florida Opens Flagship Autism Care Center in Boca Raton to Provide Children on the Spectrum with The Care That They Need Quickly
“Nearly 5% of children in Florida have autism and we understand that when we make an impact in those kiddos’ lives, we make an impact in their siblings’ lives, in their parents’ lives, in their teachers’ lives.
MINNESOTA: ONE 16 SOMALI CHILDREN HAS AUTISM
Oct 3, 2024, PBS: Researchers find alarming rise in autism diagnoses among Somali American children
Overall rates in our 4-year-olds of one in 53. And what we were seeing in our Somali 4-year-olds were rates of one in 16.
The disorder with no known cause, prevention or cure is relentlessly destroying the lives of countless families while unconcerned and clueless officials look on.
YOUR THOUGHTS?