“I feel more and more under pressure to really think about this problem,” says Dame Uta Frith, referring to the exponential rise in the number of young people being diagnosed with autism.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the number of children with EHCPs for autism spectrum disorder almost tripled between 2015 and 2025, accounting for 40 per cent of the total increase in EHCPs.
It’s a rise that has placed unprecedented strain on schools – and led the government to include autism as a focus of an independent review into rising demand for services for mental health, ADHD and autism, which is set to report later this year.
That review is welcomed by Frith, who is emeritus professor in cognitive development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL), and the person who pioneered much of the research that underpins our current understanding of autism.
She is, she says, “very happy to see that some action is being taken to understand why there has been such a dramatic increase in ASD diagnosis and why we have such long waiting lists. The current situation is dire, and something must be done.”
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