That is an extraordinary allegation. Where is the evidence or research demonstrating that parents “often” pursue diagnoses because they cannot accept their child is academically average?
Where is the evidence that parents routinely blame disability to conceal poor parenting?
After more than thirty years representing children and families in SEND law, I have seen a very different reality. I have seen parents exhausted by years of fighting simply to obtain an assessment. I have seen children unable to tolerate the sensory overload of a classroom and I have seen children with profound anxiety who physically cannot enter school. I have also seen autistic children experiencing daily distress because of noise, unpredictability and overwhelming environments and children with speech and language disorders punished for failing to understand instructions they simply could not process. I have seen children with ADHD desperately trying to regulate impulses that even they cannot fully understand.
Those are not excuses but disabilities. Yet the article then goes further
“๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด”
Again, where is the evidence? It is one thing to debate whether diagnostic thresholds have changed or whether resources are being allocated effectively but it is quite another to suggest that the increase in recognised SEND is principally the product of parents seeking labels, financial incentives and ideology. That to my mind is conjecture presented as established fact.
It goes on to say..
