Children with special needs are not well enough supported

Diagnosis is slow; young ADHD patients in the UK often experience the longest waits in Europe between an initial meeting with a doctor and a formal ADHD diagnosis. Children with untreated or poorly controlled ADHD are five times more be in fights, over twice as likely to feel frustrated at school, and three times more likely to have a reading disability than their peers. As many as one in three children with ADHD have serious mood disorders. Around 50% of children with ADHD in the UK do not feel supported by their school.

Parents of disabled children face many challenges that affect their child’s development by adversely affecting their time, resilience, finances and / or choices. Support for families at the point where a disability is diagnosed is inconsistent, and securing financial support afterwards (in the form of Disability Living Allowance) involves navigating a complicated and stressful application process. There are limited numbers of available accessible places and services, and this often leads parents to choose disability-friendly places that can lead to exclusion for disabled children, whose development can be harmed by not having the opportunity to socialise with their non-disabled peers.