Instead of receiving early help, pupils and parents face a vicious cycle of trying to get treatment

There’s a proliferation of acronyms assigned to children whose needs the state is struggling to meet. SEN (children with special educational needs), Neets (young people not in education, employment or training), LACs (looked after children in the care system).

Sometimes it feels as though these acronyms, coined by the systems and professionals involved in supporting the children, serve to help us all collude in the idea that this is some highly technical, specialised policy conversation that sits apart from mainstream discourse about children – like how we protect them from online harm – instead of being fundamental to our assessment of whether our society is doing right by them.