East Yorkshire Psychology

11/12/2025

Forty-three percent of children in Scotland are now identified as having some sort of additional learning need – the Scottish term for what is called special educational needs (SEN) in England.

If 43% of children have needs which are not met in the mainstream education system, I think it’s time to think about whether that mainstream system is fit for purpose.

We’ve created a system that does not consider the developmental needs of children, and which has an increasingly rigid focus on academics from an early age. We expect young children to sit when their bodies want to move, we expect them to focus on reading and writing when they are primed to learn through exploration and play. We send our teens to huge impersonal schools, where they move through the day without any connection with an adult who knows anything about them. We focus on test results at all costs, telling our children that if they don’t do well, a bleak future is all they can expect.

Then when our children show us that this doesn’t work for them, we say that the problem is them. We send them for assessments and get reports written on how they aren’t performing as we expect. We tell them that they are ‘badly behaved’ or ‘disruptive’. We identify them as ‘having ALN’ or ‘having SEND’. We behave as if the problem isn’t the system we’ve created, it’s the children who don’t fit it.

Unsurprisingly, the harder we look, the more children we identify who don’t fit the system. The more rigid the system becomes, the more children there will be who can't meet expectations. Children need flexibility, and our system doesn't provide it for them.

At what point will we realise that the problem isn’t our children, it’s that the system wasn’t built with their needs in mind?

01/12/2025

Sometimes we cannot describe how we feel in words so we try other ways to describe a feeling.

25/11/2025

Cost-Free reasonable adjustments that change everything.

Some schools act like neurodivergent kids/teens are asking for luxury accommodations when really, it’s the bare-minimum they need just to cope & survive a normal school day like their neurotypical peers.

Movement breaks aren’t “special treatment.”
Leaving class a few minutes early isn’t “favouritism.”
Earplugs aren’t “defiance.”
Handing them a ruler instead of punishing them for forgetting one isn’t “spoiling them.”
Flexible homework isn’t “letting them get away with it.”

And guess what else aren’t “special treatments”…

Toilet passes aren’t “privileges.”
Trainers aren’t “breaking uniform rules.”
A no-blazer pass isn’t “being awkward.”
Fidget toys aren’t “distractions” when used properly.
Exam arrangements aren’t “unfair advantages.”
Not making eye contact isn’t “rude.”
Being unable to attend certain lessons isn’t “avoidance.”
Sitting by the door isn’t “manipulative.”
Eating somewhere quieter isn’t “opting out.”
Rest breaks aren’t “weakness.”
A time-out card isn’t “escaping work.”
Laptops aren’t “cheating.”
Standing or fidgeting to learn isn’t “attention seeking.”
Leaving to go to the lunch hall early isn’t “special privilege.”
Reduced homework isn’t “lazy parenting.”
Wearing sunglasses isn’t “disrespectful.”
Drinking water in class isn’t “breaking rules.”
Alternative ways to record work aren’t “making it too easy.”
Not doing group work isn’t “non-compliance.”
Wobble cushions aren’t “messing around.”
Having a safe adult to check in with isn’t “babying.”
Extra processing time isn’t “holding up the lesson.”
Visual timetables aren’t “OTT.”
Predictable routines aren’t “pampering.”

None of this is special treatment.
It’s access.
It’s equality.
It’s the bare minimum these spicy kids need just to get through the day like their neurotypical peers. When school meets a child or (teenager) where they are, that’s when real learning happens 😊

If you think they’re just “lucky” to get these so-called “extras”, then you are part of the problem!

01/11/2025

Often parents and families leave feedback sessions asking for a list of resources and reading information straight away. So as well as adding recommended reading to our reports which they have to wait a few days for, we are now providing a resource bag tailored to the families needs in this last appointment. They will contain helpful information for the young person and their family which will be tailored to the strengths and concerns we have learnt about them during our assessment.

23/09/2025