Being autistic is not an illness or a disorder in itself, but being autistic can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical health. This is due to the often unmet needs of living in a world that is generally designed for the well-being of people who are not autistic.
In addition, three-quarters of autistic children also have other types of neurodivergence (Lang et al. 2024); this can make life even more difficult for those people. The difficulties young autistic and other multiple neurodivergent people are experiencing are reflected in the devastating current UK school attendance data. The research from Connolly et al. (2023) showed that ‘92.1% of those with school attendance difficulties are neurodivergent. 83.4% are autistic’. The Not Fine in School: Family Support for School Attendance Difficulties FaceBook group currently has a staggering and upsetting figure of over 51K members.
School Attendance
January 2024 began with a new poster campaign from the Department for Education to tackle attendance issues. Unfortunately this is potentially going to be at a huge cost to children’s physical and mental health unless people have a better understanding of neurodivergent children’s needs and adopt a trauma informed approach. According to data gathered by The Guardian (Weale, 09/01/2024), more than a fifth (21.2%) of pupils in England are what is described as being ‘persistently absent’ (missing 10% or more school sessions) across the autumn and spring terms 2022-23. There is not any data to know how many of these young people may be experiencing autistic burnout, however, I would imagine it would likely be a high proportion.
Children do well when and if they can, (Greene, 2008). No child wants to miss out on friendships and learning opportunitie s and experience mental health difficulties. Research by O’Halloran (2022) showed 25% of autistic youth experienced suicidal ideation. School attendance at all costs is dangerous. We need to be aware of and understanding the implications to mental and physical health of unmet mends that is causing long term trauma and costing lives. It is not as easy as ‘just’ getting children into school by either rewards or sanctions. If it were that simple, we would not have such a problem.
