An NAS report on autism and mental health has recently concluded that 7 out of 10 children who have autism go on to develop co-morbid mental health probles such as Depression, Anxiety, OCD.

It goes on to list recommendations that are focused on upgrading CAHMS ( currently failing wrt our children ) but this is a bit like polishing the brass on the Titanic. And the CAMHS only kicks in once a problem arises.

I think we need to be more pro-active and focus on prevention rather than cure.

If 7 out of 10 of our children are developing mental health problems which will blight the future for them we have to make their mental health the absolute number one priority. Nothing else comes close to mattering as much to the eventual outcomes for our children.

Everything we do therefore - including school - needs to be audited to establish whether it is promoting or impinging upon their mental health. Every activity - no matter how much of a rite of passage - should be subject to risk assessment.

If it's good for their mental health - do more of it. If it's bad for their mental health ( as communicated by their behaviour) - drop it like a hot brick.

I have come to believe target driven schools and highly vulnerable children such as ours are a potentially lethal combination.

To keep them physically safe we do not let children play on the main road. But although we know many children with autism experience chronic stress in schools there seems to be no connection being made between this and the widespread development of mental health problems.

As parents we need to look again at the costs as well as the benefits of mainstream schooling.

And the NAS might look again at its recommendations of its otherwise valuable report which  are unfortunately not much more than a resource-dependent wish-list  -which even if they came to pass would only bolster the safety-net for those already falling and not address the root causes of why our children are falling into mental ill-health .