BPS responds to record waiting times for autism and ADHD diagnoses detailed in new report
DECP Chair Dr Gavin Morgan responds to the Children’s Commissioner's new report.
17 October 2024
Responding to the new report from the Children's Commissioner Waiting times for assessment and support for autism, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions Dr Gavin Morgan, chair of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology at the British Psychological Society, said:
"These new figures from the Children's Commissioner paint a stark picture of what many educational psychologists are acutely aware of. There are simply not enough educational psychologists employed by local authorities to provide special educational needs and disability (SEND) support, nor to undertake the number of psychological assessments for the Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans that young people with SEND require.
"The Children's Commissioner estimates that 400,000 children were still waiting at the end of 2023 to receive their first contact with community health services associated with neurodevelopmental conditions. This is unacceptable and echoes the bleak reality that 20,000 children are currently waiting for an EHC assessment in England, and over 4,000 who do have plans are waiting for a suitable school place.
"We therefore welcome the Children's Commissioner's recommendation that the Government's Child Health Action Plan must include a joint health, education and social care workforce strategy. We agree that health services should ideally be integrated on school sites, and this should include every school being linked with a named educational psychologist, free at the point of delivery.
"By training and retaining more local authority educational psychologists this will ensure the necessary SEND support is provided to children, families and teachers and enable early intervention, preventing needs and challenges from becoming entrenched in the first place.
"This will not only help children and families but will also save significant costs further down the line. The government's commitment to reforming the SEND system must include making this a top priority to help level the playing field for all children."
Find out more about the BPS's campaign to address the need for more educational psychologists in local authorities, to make sure every child has the support they need to thrive in their education.