A sad story – please read this.

I was having a break from weekly blogging – blame workload, good weather and life in general.  But…then I heard this story from a Mum of a child going through the diagnosis assessment process.

I have to share this and ask questions. 

A young girl clearly has some well-recognised challenges with sensory sensitivities and social anxiety. Her teachers from Primary 1 to Primary 6 have put in place some simple, reasonable adjustments that made a huge difference. It has kept her at school, learning and just about coping with life.

Then she moved into Primary 7 – her new teacher says ‘ nonsense, nothing wrong,  it’s just bad behaviour’.

Result: she has been at school for just 5 half days in the last 2 years. 

Questions:

• This is 2025 isn’t it?

• How much money, effort and resources have been spent in education over the last decade(s) to help teachers understand autism/ neurodivergence?

• What long-term damage has this girl suffered unnecessarily?

• Does the teacher ever think about this or communicate with his colleagues?

I guess for that teacher, the problem is solved, she’s not at school, and his life is easier?

I am so sad and angry for this mother.

I am just a passing point in her life, helping fill out a pre-diagnosis assessment form, but she must live with the long-term consequences for her daughter.

Please tell me how we can fix this? – yes I have checked it is now 2025!

So…how to fix this (legally):

I don’t have all the answers on how to fix this, I doubt anyone has, even ChatGPT.

But it would help if:

• Education leadership (at all levels) started to accept that they have not done enough for ‘every child’

• We see the challenge as one of attitudes, not resources

• Become more non-confrontational, but call out bad practice when it happens

• Have clear accountability and agreed action plans when a child is not accessing their entitled education (that’s not the same as accessing the school premises)

Here are two practical steps:

1. Individuals make an impact not organisations. So when a child is missing out on their education, instead of the school/education department being responsible for follow-up, action planning, what if it were the named teacher?

2. That teacher doesn’t need any more training or neurodiversity awareness. They need direct input to support them to understand their impact and see that alternative approaches actually work (in situ not in theory). That sounds a bit like mentorship from someone outside the system.

What do you think would work? Let me know here.