Overdiagnosis of children overlooks that growing up is messy and uneven', says Jeremy Hunt

"Children and young people are being overdiagnosed with mental health conditions in a society that has lost sight of the reality that child development is messy and uneven, the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. He is the latest senior figure to add his voice to calls for a radical overhaul of the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system in England."

"Mental ill-health and neurodiversity now accounts for more than half of the post-pandemic increase we have seen in claimants of disability benefit. Spending on Send provision has sky-rocketed and risks the financial sustainability of local government. Rather than assuming that more money or more of the same is the answer, we need to ask more fundamental questions. Is a cash transfer or a label that means young people are treated and come to see themselves as different the right way to help them?"

There has been an alarming escalation in the prevalence and severity of mental ill-health among young people, alongside significant increases in diagnoses of neurodevelopmental conditions. Mental ill-health and neurodiversity now account for more than half of the post‑pandemic rise in disability benefit claimants. Spending on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision has sky‑rocketed and risks the financial sustainability of local government. Concerns exist about overdiagnosis and the medicalisation of routine, uneven child development, with questions raised about whether cash transfers or diagnostic labels are the most appropriate ways to help young people. A government white paper is expected.

Read at www.theguardian.com