I've noticed something amongst today’s children. When I see kids who are 'difficult', 'quiet' or 'hard to get to', they used to be known as just that. But now, more often than not, these kids have now been labelled as neurodivergent. Whether it’s ADHD, or attention deficit disorder or autism, young people under the age of 16 are increasingly being told they have incredibly serious, lifelong medical conditions. Kids now come up to me explaining their rude or brash behaviour as “on the spectrum”. We now have a whole generation of children told to interpret and explain their behaviour through diagnostic labels.
But who is this helping? In fact, is it helping anyone at all? I’ve worked with children as a psychologist for over ten years – and I’m becoming increasingly convinced that it is not.
