Autism and ADHD in young people

[Turkish]

26 minutes ago, egg said:

I don't disagree on the big pharma/ business point, and I'm with Turkish on the cycle of ultra processed food making people ill, and medication fixing them up points.

However, I don't see the link between psychiatrists and psychologists diagnosing MH and neuro divergence issues, and the pharma business. It's a sad reality that more youngsters are suffering with these issues (the lock downs have played a huge part).

Devils advocate questions - is it a good or bad thing that medics are picking up, diagnosing, and addressing these issues in youngsters? Or are you suggesting that medics are mis diagnosing to keep the pharma business going? 

 

I'm genuinely shocked that they are giving anti-depressants to under 18 year old before they appear to address the underlying issues. I cant speak for other kids but the one i'm talking about has had a very privileged upbringing, spoilt beyond belief and also very immature for her age, she has no resilience to anything because she's never had to build it up. Any problems her parents fix it by throwing money at it, didn't like her school, sent her to private school, got a part time job, didn't like it so she quit and they upped her pocket money, started driving lessons bought her a £7k car that's just sat on the drive for 6 months as she's not passed her test yet. Now shes about to going out into the big wide world and has anxiety about it and depression.

As for the kids i mentioned with autism and/or ADHD the kids are asking for it now because they seem to think it in some way justifies their feeling, emotions and behaviour and now that parents start to convince themselves too and look for signs in them. Johnny does this and he's got ADHD, so if i do this too means  i must be, that sort of thinking

Kids not being able to concentrate in school has been happening for 100s of years, pump the same kids full of processed shit and sugar it amplifies the problem x 100. People getting stress and anxious it totally normal, it goes back to our hunter gather DNA. Feeling weird as a teenage and a frigging adult is totally normal but rather than teaching kids that it's okay, that it's happening to everyone and this is how to deal with it we seem to have created a society where we need to give it a label and worryingly in some cases, medication. 

I also want to caveat the above by saying there are some genuine cases where these things are a condition and if you suffer from them it must be horrific. It's great that there is more awareness of them, but also that more and more people are using these conditions to justify normal emotions rather than learning how to deal with them we're putting labels on them, some people actually want to have this label.

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I'm genuinely shocked that they are giving anti-depressants to under 18 year old before they appear to address the underlying issues. I cant speak for other kids but the one i'm talking about has had a very privileged upbringing, spoilt beyond belief and also very immature for her age, she has no resilience to anything because she's never had to build it up. Any problems her parents fix it by throwing money at it, didn't like her school, sent her to private school, got a part time job, didn't like it so she quit and they upped her pocket money, started driving lessons bought her a £7k car that's just sat on the drive for 6 months as she's not passed her test yet. Now shes about to going out into the big wide world and has anxiety about it and depression.

As for the kids i mentioned with autism and/or ADHD the kids are asking for it now because they seem to think it in some way justifies their feeling, emotions and behaviour and now that parents start to convince themselves too and look for signs in them. Johnny does this and he's got ADHD, so if i do this too means  i must be, that sort of thinking

Kids not being able to concentrate in school has been happening for 100s of years, pump the same kids full of processed shit and sugar it amplifies the problem x 100. People getting stress and anxious it totally normal, it goes back to our hunter gather DNA. Feeling weird as a teenage and a frigging adult is totally normal but rather than teaching kids that it's okay, that it's happening to everyone and this is how to deal with it we seem to have created a society where we need to give it a label and worryingly in some cases, medication. 

I also want to caveat the above by saying there are some genuine cases where these things are a condition and if you suffer from them it must be horrific. It's great that there is more awareness of them, but also that more and more people are using these conditions to justify normal emotions rather than learning how to deal with them we're putting labels on them, some people actually want to have this label.

Closing the schools during Covid lockdown didn’t help their social development either.

[Turkish]

21 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Closing the schools during Covid lockdown didn’t help their social development either.

It's factor for sure but i'm not sure it's as big a factor as is made out. I have coached kids football for years, my age group is U12 now so 11/12 year old boys but see kids regularly from U8s-U18s, they dont seem to be any different to any other kids at any time socially. I think a much bigger factor is social media and gaming, many of them spend hours and hours a day on their phones or playing on xboxes. Some parents have real issues getting their kids off them, some dont care and let them sit on them all day. To me that's a much bigger problem

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

A well person is not a customer 

it’s a great business model. Have people in laboratories making food that has the perfect amount of sweetness, crunchiness and taste people keep coming back for more, meanwhile in a other laboratory other people are making tablets to fix the damage done by the first people to need to keep coming back for more, forever. 

The longer the ingredients list the less we should be buying it.

[egg]

57 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I'm genuinely shocked that they are giving anti-depressants to under 18 year old before they appear to address the underlying issues. I cant speak for other kids but the one i'm talking about has had a very privileged upbringing, spoilt beyond belief and also very immature for her age, she has no resilience to anything because she's never had to build it up. Any problems her parents fix it by throwing money at it, didn't like her school, sent her to private school, got a part time job, didn't like it so she quit and they upped her pocket money, started driving lessons bought her a £7k car that's just sat on the drive for 6 months as she's not passed her test yet. Now shes about to going out into the big wide world and has anxiety about it and depression.

As for the kids i mentioned with autism and/or ADHD the kids are asking for it now because they seem to think it in some way justifies their feeling, emotions and behaviour and now that parents start to convince themselves too and look for signs in them. Johnny does this and he's got ADHD, so if i do this too means  i must be, that sort of thinking

Kids not being able to concentrate in school has been happening for 100s of years, pump the same kids full of processed shit and sugar it amplifies the problem x 100. People getting stress and anxious it totally normal, it goes back to our hunter gather DNA. Feeling weird as a teenage and a frigging adult is totally normal but rather than teaching kids that it's okay, that it's happening to everyone and this is how to deal with it we seem to have created a society where we need to give it a label and worryingly in some cases, medication. 

I also want to caveat the above by saying there are some genuine cases where these things are a condition and if you suffer from them it must be horrific. It's great that there is more awareness of them, but also that more and more people are using these conditions to justify normal emotions rather than learning how to deal with them we're putting labels on them, some people actually want to have this label.

On the first highlighted part, if the underlying issue is depression, then anti depressants are an appropriate solution. I think you're confusing sadness/low mood with clinical depression. 

On the second highlighted part, none of us know what is genuine or not. 

As to the remainder, you seem to disagree that identifying and addressing issues is a negative. Gloucester put it well above. 

[egg]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

The longer the ingredients list the less we should be buying it.

Yep. Bread is a nightmare. If we buy it, it's crosta and mollica wraps with just the normal/basic bread ingredients, Jason bread, or part baked rolls as they have minimal ingredients. The rest are packed with chemicals and unknown crap.  

[Turkish]

Just now, Gloucester Saint said:

The longer the ingredients list the less we should be buying it.

some other advice i got was what did it start out as? Break it down into what was that stuff in it's orginal state.

A chicken kiev for example, started life as a piece of chicken, some break crumb and garlic. A twix or packet of doritos, no one can tell you what they started as.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, egg said:

Yep. Bread is a nightmare. If we buy it, it's crosta and mollica wraps with just the normal/basic bread ingredients, Jason bread, or part baked rolls as they have minimal ingredients. The rest are packed with chemicals and unknown crap.  

Buy mine from the local baker in the town, four ingredients, crusty whole meal loaf. It toasts and cuts superbly. Agree on the part-baked bread being better on less ingredients, I never buy supermarket ready sliced stuff. 

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

On the first highlighted part, if the underlying issue is depression, then anti depressants are an appropriate solution. I think you're confusing sadness/low mood with clinical depression. 

On the second highlighted part, none of us know what is genuine or not. 

As to the remainder, you seem to disagree that identifying and addressing issues is a negative. Gloucester put it well above. 

But are they actually doing this is my point? Are they quick to stick a pill in them rather than actually addressing the cause. I'm not confusing the two, my point is that a lot of doctors these days seem to be more drug dealers than doctors. Prescribing a pill should be a last resort, not the default response. 

[east-stand-nic]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I'm genuinely shocked that they are giving anti-depressants to under 18 year old before they appear to address the underlying issues. I cant speak for other kids but the one i'm talking about has had a very privileged upbringing, spoilt beyond belief and also very immature for her age, she has no resilience to anything because she's never had to build it up. Any problems her parents fix it by throwing money at it, didn't like her school, sent her to private school, got a part time job, didn't like it so she quit and they upped her pocket money, started driving lessons bought her a £7k car that's just sat on the drive for 6 months as she's not passed her test yet. Now shes about to going out into the big wide world and has anxiety about it and depression.

As for the kids i mentioned with autism and/or ADHD the kids are asking for it now because they seem to think it in some way justifies their feeling, emotions and behaviour and now that parents start to convince themselves too and look for signs in them. Johnny does this and he's got ADHD, so if i do this too means  i must be, that sort of thinking

Kids not being able to concentrate in school has been happening for 100s of years, pump the same kids full of processed shit and sugar it amplifies the problem x 100. People getting stress and anxious it totally normal, it goes back to our hunter gather DNA. Feeling weird as a teenage and a frigging adult is totally normal but rather than teaching kids that it's okay, that it's happening to everyone and this is how to deal with it we seem to have created a society where we need to give it a label and worryingly in some cases, medication. 

I also want to caveat the above by saying there are some genuine cases where these things are a condition and if you suffer from them it must be horrific. It's great that there is more awareness of them, but also that more and more people are using these conditions to justify normal emotions rather than learning how to deal with them we're putting labels on them, some people actually want to have this label.

This is, not doubt a big part of it. It has been so well pushed and publicised that people now think to label behavior as a sickness rather than just bad behavior. People look to the internet and TV for symptom checking services and this is all they see. It was like this during covid. OMG I have a runny nose, I have covid nailed on. Panic panic panic.

I also believe to some degree people line themselves up saying they have this as they know it gives them a lot of leeway to be off work sick, get extra benefits etc.

[egg]

30 minutes ago, Turkish said:

It's factor for sure but i'm not sure it's as big a factor as is made out. I have coached kids football for years, my age group is U12 now so 11/12 year old boys but see kids regularly from U8s-U18s, they dont seem to be any different to any other kids at any time socially. I think a much bigger factor is social media and gaming, many of them spend hours and hours a day on their phones or playing on xboxes. Some parents have real issues getting their kids off them, some dont care and let them sit on them all day. To me that's a much bigger problem

It's massive. Part of my work looks at how kids are doing in school, and working with people from an educational and also a health specialism. Lock down has caused untold damage, and part of the remedy is to diagnose kids asap. For me, that's a huge benefit to these kids, and one reason why we're seeing more diagnoses. I agree that SM and gaming are huge societal issues, causing all sorts of unrealistic world views and expectations, as well as isolation and an inability to socialise and integrate. Whether that is a causative factor in MH and neuro divergence I don't know, but it certainly doesn't help these kids. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Buy mine from the local baker in the town, four ingredients, crusty whole meal loaf. It toasts and cuts superbly. Agree on the part-baked bread being better on less ingredients, I never buy supermarket ready sliced stuff. 

i tend to avoid bread all together these days, i'll occasionally have a bacon or sausage sandwich at our football club cafe or if i have one at home it's from a baker like you. No way would i buy the shit from our local tescos.

[Gloucester Saint]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

some other advice i got was what did it start out as? Break it down into what was that stuff in it's orginal state.

A chicken kiev for example, started life as a piece of chicken, some break crumb and garlic. A twix or packet of doritos, no one can tell you what they started as.

It’s all of the emulsifiers, monos and preservatives which concern me, we still don’t really know in the long-term what impact they have on the human body. And no need for many of them to be there, especially not in frozen food.

Shop bought cakes and biscuits are one of the worst offenders. It’s everywhere at work and just before lunchtime out of meetings it does get tempting sometimes. Being lactose intolerant has some benefits though as most of the time I can’t eat it!

Edited Monday at 10:08 by Gloucester Saint

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Buy mine from the local baker in the town, four ingredients, crusty whole meal loaf. It toasts and cuts superbly. Agree on the part-baked bread being better on less ingredients, I never buy supermarket ready sliced stuff. 

That's the way to go if you can get it. We don't have that option sadly. I looked at the ingredients list on some frozen chips the other day and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Something like a dozen items when all you need is spuds and oil. It's mental what they're passing off as food. 

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i tend to avoid bread all together these days, i'll occasionally have a bacon or sausage sandwich at our football club cafe or if i have one at home it's from a baker like you. No way would i buy the shit from our local tescos.

That's my achilles heel. All thought of how shit it may be goes out of the window when I smell bacon!! 

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, egg said:

That's the way to go if you can get it. We don't have that option sadly. I looked at the ingredients list on some frozen chips the other day and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Something like a dozen items when all you need is spuds and oil. It's mental what they're passing off as food. 

McCain Naked aren’t too bad for frozen ones when we’re tired and back from work late, but we try and make our own seasoned potato wedges. 

[egg]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

But are they actually doing this is my point? Are they quick to stick a pill in them rather than actually addressing the cause. I'm not confusing the two, my point is that a lot of doctors these days seem to be more drug dealers than doctors. Prescribing a pill should be a last resort, not the default response. 

What do you mean by the cause? 

Depression is a chemical illness, not to be confused with low mood caused by environment. The underlying issue is vastly different for each. 

ADHD and autism does not have the underlying issue of immaturity or poor behaviour. It has the underlying issue is ADHD or autism which presents in many ways including immaturity or poor behaviour as a consequence of the condition. 

ADHD is rarely treated with a pill. Autism ditto. Understanding its presence and addressing it is vital for these kids though.

 

[egg]

6 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

McCain Naked aren’t too bad for frozen ones when we’re tired and back from work late, but we try and make our own seasoned potato wedges. 

Yep. We use the knife, seasoning, oil, air fryer, method. Paprika is king. 

[whelk]

Please don’t anyone tell me the Lidl fresh low GI cob is bad for you? Stays soft for ages and no doubt must be additives but tastes fucking lovely.

Only reason I will go to Lidl

[whelk]

Key reason for many councils going bust is surge in demand for special needs. That and 14 years of significant reductions in funding

[Gloucester Saint]

19 minutes ago, egg said:

What do you mean by the cause? 

Depression is a chemical illness, not to be confused with low mood caused by environment. The underlying issue is vastly different for each. 

ADHD and autism does not have the underlying issue of immaturity or poor behaviour. It has the underlying issue is ADHD or autism which presents in many ways including immaturity or poor behaviour as a consequence of the condition. 

ADHD is rarely treated with a pill. Autism ditto. Understanding its presence and addressing it is vital for these kids though.

 

In more severe ADHD cases, Ritalin can be prescribed but very sparingly as it comes with a number of side effects, albeit many of these are temporary https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/ritalin-effects-on-body

[egg]

10 minutes ago, whelk said:

Key reason for many councils going bust is surge in demand for special needs. That and 14 years of significant reductions in funding

Yep, it's a huge issue. So much so that they won't assess for SEN, leaving parents to appeal, then when they lose the appeal, they won't issue a plan, then they lose the next appeal and face a further appeal over educational placement. The tribunal system is now overloaded as a consequence, and make decisions that the LA can't afford.

It's a real mess, but fundamentally, we must do right by these kids and meet their needs. 

[Whitey Grandad]

55 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Buy mine from the local baker in the town, four ingredients, crusty whole meal loaf. It toasts and cuts superbly. Agree on the part-baked bread being better on less ingredients, I never buy supermarket ready sliced stuff. 

You have a local baker?

Wow! I dream of real crusty bread.

[Whitey Grandad]

55 minutes ago, Turkish said:

But are they actually doing this is my point? Are they quick to stick a pill in them rather than actually addressing the cause. I'm not confusing the two, my point is that a lot of doctors these days seem to be more drug dealers than doctors. Prescribing a pill should be a last resort, not the default response. 

Someone once told me that a surgeon will cut you open and a doctor will fill you full of pills. It’s what they know and do.

[Gloucester Saint]

15 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

You have a local baker?

Wow! I dream of real crusty bread.

Yes, about five streets from our house. The town, population around 6k, also has a butcher, deli, craft/gift shops, small supermarkets, cafe, boutique, and four pubs. No candlestick makers though.

Edited Monday at 11:16 by Gloucester Saint

[Whitey Grandad]

27 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Yes, about five streets from our house. The town, population around 6k, also has a butcher, deli, craft/gift shops, small supermarkets, cafe, boutique, and four pubs. No candlestick makers though.

When you consider that I live in Chandlers Ford which is effectively a suburb of Southampton we have a very poor selection of local shops.

My 18 year old granddaughter has now been diagnosed as anorexic. She doesn’t eat properly and it all started a few years ago when she had a serious abdominal condition that required emergency surgery. She has never properly recovered from that but now that her condition has been elevated we are now seeing better support.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

When you consider that I live in Chandlers Ford which is effectively a suburb of Southampton we have a very poor selection of local shops.

My 18 year old granddaughter has now been diagnosed as anorexic. She doesn’t eat properly and it all started a few years ago when she had a serious abdominal condition that required emergency surgery. She has never properly recovered from that but now that her condition has been elevated we are now seeing better support.

Very sorry to hear about your Granddaughter WG, although good that it sounds like she’s getting more specialist support.

Having just looked at the shops in Chandlers Ford it seems to revolve around takeaways, Costa etc. Given it’s always been a fairly affluent area and the large supermarket has been going 50 years with the novelty worn off you’d think more independent shops would have popped up.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Very sorry to hear about your Granddaughter WG, although good that it sounds like she’s getting more specialist support.

Having just looked at the shops in Chandlers Ford it seems to revolve around takeaways, Costa etc. Given it’s always been a fairly affluent area and the large supermarket has been going 50 years with the novelty worn off you’d think more independent shops would have popped up.

Thanks for your message of support.

I have lived here for nearly 45 years and have seen many changes in that time. I had a couple of spells as President of our local Chamber of Commerce and it was a constant theme of local independents being driven out of business by the larger enterprises.

Supermarkets are not content with 95% of the business, they want it all.

[Turkish]

40 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks for your message of support.

I have lived here for nearly 45 years and have seen many changes in that time. I had a couple of spells as President of our local Chamber of Commerce and it was a constant theme of local independents being driven out of business by the larger enterprises.

Supermarkets are not content with 95% of the business, they want it all.

i remember growing up in the eighties and most estates had a butchers, bakers, green grocers and a newsagents. You only really went to the supermarket for a big shop for all the other stuff. Now they are the exception rather than the norm with Tesco express and small Sainsbury or coops taking over the areas. It's really sad as not only do they have far inferior products that are packed full of shit to stay in your cupboards for weeks its also taken that community spirit away. 

[egg]

20 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i remember growing up in the eighties and most estates had a butchers, bakers, green grocers and a newsagents. You only really went to the supermarket for a big shop for all the other stuff. Now they are the exception rather than the norm with Tesco express and small Sainsbury or coops taking over the areas. It's really sad as not only do they have far inferior products that are packed full of shit to stay in your cupboards for weeks its also taken that community spirit away. 

Yep. Lordshill had all of that and more once upon a time. Now it's Sainsbury's only, plus a Starbucks. I hate to think how it'll be in 10 years from now. 

[Tamesaint]

44 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i remember growing up in the eighties and most estates had a butchers, bakers, green grocers and a newsagents. You only really went to the supermarket for a big shop for all the other stuff. Now they are the exception rather than the norm with Tesco express and small Sainsbury or coops taking over the areas. It's really sad as not only do they have far inferior products that are packed full of shit to stay in your cupboards for weeks its also taken that community spirit away. 

The bread aisle at supermarkets these days is full of pre sliced packaged pap. The lack of "real" bread is depressing. Thankfully we have 2 bakers. 

[Gloucester Saint]

43 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i remember growing up in the eighties and most estates had a butchers, bakers, green grocers and a newsagents. You only really went to the supermarket for a big shop for all the other stuff. Now they are the exception rather than the norm with Tesco express and small Sainsbury or coops taking over the areas. It's really sad as not only do they have far inferior products that are packed full of shit to stay in your cupboards for weeks its also taken that community spirit away. 

They’ve still got all of those amenities here bar the greengrocer (would love one of those but we go to one in Tewkesbury instead, Woody’s which has amazing local produce). The Co-op tbf to them does stock a lot of local produce (the Mid Counties ones are quite good), the Nisa has become a Morrisons which is stacked with snacks mainly although useful for the odd thing that the other places don’t have in stock eg ground almonds for my Pasanda the other day). 

The estates built since the 1990s have increasingly crammed in the housing and ignored amenities. Very isolating for the residents and often not on bus routes, with nearby main roads to cross to reach amenities which are dangerous to cross on foot. 

[whelk]

45 minutes ago, egg said:

I hate to think how it'll be in 10 years from now

We will just be given AI generated work pills depending on how we have been graded in our Chinese work camps, reminiscing about the days when we had supermarkets with shit bread

[revolution saint]

Good to see the ADHD thread veer off topic.  Who'd have predicted that?

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Good to see the ADHD thread veer off topic.  Who'd have predicted that?

i couldn't concentrate on it.

[egg]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i couldn't concentrate on it.

Very good 😊 😂

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

When you consider that I live in Chandlers Ford which is effectively a suburb of Southampton we have a very poor selection of local shops.

My 18 year old granddaughter has now been diagnosed as anorexic. She doesn’t eat properly and it all started a few years ago when she had a serious abdominal condition that required emergency surgery. She has never properly recovered from that but now that her condition has been elevated we are now seeing better support.

Sending our best wishes for your granddaughter and your family in supporting her, Whitey. So glad the support she's receiving has improved.

4 hours ago, Turkish said:

i remember growing up in the eighties and most estates had a butchers, bakers, green grocers and a newsagents. You only really went to the supermarket for a big shop for all the other stuff. Now they are the exception rather than the norm with Tesco express and small Sainsbury or coops taking over the areas. It's really sad as not only do they have far inferior products that are packed full of shit to stay in your cupboards for weeks its also taken that community spirit away. 

For any and all issues I might have developed, looking back I'm very grateful to have had the foundations of decent childhood diet, exercise and having to interact with others.

Even then, I'd get money to get some sweets for school. That was definitely not the best, and has had some impact. Thankfully, that was it as far as sweets or fizzy drinks went. Everything else was bought from proper butchers, grocers or bakers. I dread to think what I'd have been like with more additives and sugar in my system.

Likewise, my folks made sure we interacted with other kids. Later on, we had moved to a more isolated spot, where that was more difficult. I'm sure as they ushered us out the door, most kids didn't see the happy smiles of relief on parents' faces. Peace for a few hours, knowing we were all safe together. But all that exercise, fresh air, dealing with lots of other kids socially gives so many skills, not least tolerance, friendship, conflict resolution and resilience.

Hang on... the jumpers Whitey's using for goalposts are definitely closer together than mine....

 

[ecuk268]

7 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

You have a local baker?

Wow! I dream of real crusty bread.

Matt's Bakery off Leigh Road do good pies and cakes. 

Haven't tried their bread.

[Sarnia Cherie]

On 27/01/2025 at 10:33, whelk said:

Key reason for many councils going bust is surge in demand for special needs. That and 14 years of significant reductions in funding

I grant you that the Tories did nothing during their years in Government but State schools have been declining for longer than 14 years.

In an ideal world mainstream schools should have the necessary funding for specialist teachers and resources on their staff to teach the SEN children they have. There would be no need to send these children to private specialist schools, with the eye-watering fees being paid for by the local authority. Councils could use that money for other needs in the area. I have 2 grandchildren with SEN issues. They began their education at the local Primary but within a couple of years they were going to specialist schools. My 15 year old grandson is autistic and my 11 year old granddaughter has dyslexia. Neither of their Primary schools had the teachers or resources to provide them with an education and every child is entitled to that. Both have their fees of around £20,000 a year each plus transport costs of £900 each a year,  paid for by the County Council. Times that by the thousands of SEN children in the country and the cost is astronomical. The sad thing is that these children could have received their education for nothing if only the Governments' had had the foresight to fully staff and resource their State schools.

[whelk]

56 minutes ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

I grant you that the Tories did nothing during their years in Government but State schools have been declining for longer than 14 years.

In an ideal world mainstream schools should have the necessary funding for specialist teachers and resources on their staff to teach the SEN children they have. There would be no need to send these children to private specialist schools, with the eye-watering fees being paid for by the local authority. Councils could use that money for other needs in the area. I have 2 grandchildren with SEN issues. They began their education at the local Primary but within a couple of years they were going to specialist schools. My 15 year old grandson is autistic and my 11 year old granddaughter has dyslexia. Neither of their Primary schools had the teachers or resources to provide them with an education and every child is entitled to that. Both have their fees of around £20,000 a year each plus transport costs of £900 each a year,  paid for by the County Council. Times that by the thousands of SEN children in the country and the cost is astronomical. The sad thing is that these children could have received their education for nothing if only the Governments' had had the foresight to fully staff and resource their State schools.

Agree. Lots of money spent on appeals, taxi drivers having a field day. Primary schools can often cope but Secondaries are not equipped and as it stands cannot meet the needs effectively.

Edited Tuesday at 15:25 by whelk

[Sarnia Cherie]

20 hours ago, whelk said:

Agree. Lots of money spent on appeals, taxi drivers having a field day. Primary schools can often cope but Secondaries are not equipped and as it stands cannot meet the needs effectively.

It's been a disaster all round. How much easier for an SEN pupil to go to their local Primary and Secondary schools and get an education tailored for them with the specialist teachers and resources on site. They can go to school with their siblings and friends and be like everyone else. Instead they are sent miles to be educated and at an enormous cost which is desperately needed elsewhere. I don't understand why politicians can't see that.  

[benjii]

On 27/01/2025 at 12:16, Gloucester Saint said:

Yes, about five streets from our house. The town, population around 6k, also has a butcher, deli, craft/gift shops, small supermarkets, cafe, boutique, and four pubs. No candlestick makers though.

Kebab?

[Gloucester Saint]

39 minutes ago, benjii said:

Kebab?

No, not one of those. An Indian restaurant if you get hungry though which is well regarded. And a Chinese takeaway which is decent but not in the same league.

There was a good chippy when we first moved it but they changed it to a not-so-good greasy spoon so that’s a clear gap.

Edited yesterday at 17:59 by Gloucester Saint

[benjii]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

No, not one of those. An Indian restaurant if you get hungry though which is well regarded. And a Chinese takeaway which is decent but not in the same league.

There was a good chippy when we first moved it but they changed it to a not-so-good greasy spoon so that’s a clear gap.

Shame. Chippies probably quite hard to sustain nowadays, I guess.