Almost 1.4 million schoolchildren in England and Wales were identified as having special educational needs in 2020, with neurodivergent children currently over-represented in court and custodial settings.
Researchers at Keele University found that neurodivergent children face a number of challenges as they navigate their way through the education and youth justice systems.
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In a study involving interviews with 19 young people, aged between 15 and 18, who were either in custody or had been recently released for offences including burglary, robbery and manslaughter, several talked about their journey through the systems, often describing being labelled as disruptive or “a problem”, as early as year four - aged eight or nine.
Lead author Dr Anne-Marie Day said: “Children spoke of struggling to cope, often because of their neurodivergent conditions. They repeatedly talked about how all their conversations with professionals who were supposed to support them were about their behaviour, rather than about them as people, their hopes and problems.”
She added: “The research findings suggest that both the education and youth justice systems in England and Wales are disabling and criminalising through processes that, often unintentionally, label, stigmatise, isolate, neglect and harm neurodivergent children.”
Despite a number of studies looking at why the number of neurodivergent children in custody is disproportionate, there has been very little work which draws attention to the ways in which neurodivergent children interact with the education and criminal justice systems.
The research found an “urgent need” for all frontline professionals working with children to receive training to raise awareness of neurodivergence.
The findings suggest that early screening for potential signs of neurodivergence should become compulsory when a child is at risk of exclusion from school or demonstrates behaviour challenges, and screening should be mandatory during the assessment of every young person who enters the youth justice system.
Dr Day added: “The way in which the education system combines with the focus on risk in the justice system means that neurodivergent children are disproportionately labelled and disabled by the very systems that are supposed to help them.
“The isolation, exclusion, and stigmatisation of neurodivergent children permeates both the education and youth justice systems. Poor staff training, limited knowledge, and insufficient assessment and screening tools have contributed to a lack of support and identification of neurodivergent children in both the education and criminal justice systems internationally.”
Researchers say there needs to be a move towards a neurodiversity and “child-first approach”, where a child is viewed firstly as an individual with their own specific strengths and needs.
