(UK) Almost a third of kids get extra time for tests "amid explosion in conditions such as ADHD, autism"

Oct 20, 2025, Daily Mail: Schools should stop giving neurodiverse pupils extra time in exams, says neurologist: 'It's setting them up to fail'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15208563/amp/ADHD-autism-extra-time-exams-school.html

Extra time in exams is 'not healthy' for pupils with neurological and developmental disorders, a leading neurologist has claimed.

Almost a third of students are now given additional time during tests, amid an explosion in diagnoses of conditions such as ADHD and autism.

But Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan, a consultant neurologist at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, warned that this approach is setting neurodiverse young people 'up to fail'.

'Let's face it, the world is not going to accommodate people,' she told the Cheltenham Literature Festival while promoting her new book, Age of Diagnosis: How the Overdiagnosis Epidemic is Making Us Sick.

'Your child gets a diagnosis and they get extra time in exams, for example.

'I feel that isn't a very healthy way forward. I think that we should be looking at interventions rather than accommodations.

'What accommodations does, it says, well, we'll give you extra time in exams so you can manage better.

'But there's going to be a point in the future when extra time will not exist - and by giving it to young people in school I feel like you're creating the impression they need the extra time, that they perhaps cannot learn any other way.'

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'You're also setting up an idea that the world will accommodate them. We really need to look at what we're doing when we identify children with problems,' she added.

Common symptoms of ADHD include restlessness, distractibility, forgetfulness and difficulty following instructions or managing time, while those with autism may find it hard to empathise with others and take longer to process information - though many show a strong interest in certain topics.

Dr O'Sullivan warned that by telling neurodiverse students their brains are 'abnormal' - for which there is no scientific evidence - society is setting them up to fail.

'We should be helping them to work within a messy, difficult world, not setting them up to believe that the world will change to accommodate them,' she said.

'Imagine how difficult that is if you are defining a person according to a brain abnormality in teenagers - how difficult that will be to overcome in the future.'

The most recent figures from Ofqual show there has been a 12.5 per cent increase in access arrangement approvals in England in 2023-24, rising to 625,000.

Overall, this means almost three in ten students who sat exams were awarded extra time, the unconfirmed statistics suggest.

Most pupils with neurological differences including dyslexia, ADHD and autism who have such arrangements are granted 25 per cent extra time to complete their exams.

Dr Suzanne O'Sullivan said 'As a society we have decided to seek out these diagnoses more actively, to look for people who might have been neglected before. But we've also gradually completely transformed the definitions so that we can find people with milder and milder cases'

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Access arrangements may also be used to support pupils with specific difficulties such as reading, writing, concentrating and processing information.

Other adjustments designed to help students focus and perform to the best of their ability include sitting in separate rooms away from other pupils, using a laptop rather than writing exams by hand, and taking supervised rest breaks.

There has also been a rise in the number of 'special consideration' requests, in which a pupil's mark can be reviewed under exceptional circumstances such as illness, bereavement or a traumatic incident.

Experts have raised concerns in recent years about a surge in diagnoses of both ADHD and autism - but figures released earlier this year provided the first official estimate of how widespread these neurodevelopmental disorders may be.

Official data published by NHS England, using figures from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), found that as many as 2,498,000 people could be living with ADHD, including those not yet formally diagnosed.

NHS data also shows that in some areas as many as one in 100 people are taking ADHD medication, compared to just one in 1,000 in nearby regions.

At the same time, the latest figures for autism assessments in England show the number of patients waiting at least three months for an initial specialist appointment has jumped by more than a quarter.

Experts warn that behind these numbers are children unable to access vital support. . . .

According to the World Health Organisation, about one in 100 children across the globe has the condition.