World’s Bestselling Non-Fiction Author Slams English Curriculum for Failing Next Generation of Autistic Novelists

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The world’s all-time bestselling author of non-fiction books has slammed the English curriculum in British schools for failing to nurture the next generation of autistic novelists.
Naomi Simmons, whose language study guides have sold more than 550million copies, said that pupils with a talent for storytelling who are neurodivergent — having a brain that works differently from the average or ‘neurotypical’ person —stand little chance of becoming successful writers in adulthood because their imagination is being “systematically strangled” in the classroom.
Children with neurological conditions like ADHD and high-functioning autism (HFA) can struggle to concentrate and behave in class, while those with dyslexia can struggle to read and spell, but are generally more innovative and creative thinkers
than their neurotypical peers.
But their aptitude for creative writing is “purposefully stymied” in the majority of mainstream primary and secondary settings, which are “inadequately trained” to support neurodivergent students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), she said.
Instead of fostering their passion for literature and the arts, Simmons said bright students with hidden disabilities — those which don’t have physical signs — are frequently treated like toddlers and forced to learn only basic skills like the ‘ABCs’,
often by rote.
If neurodivergent children lose interest or present symptoms of their disabilities such as anxiety, they are often disciplined or labelled “naughty, stupid or disruptive” she claimed.
The education system is said to be failing neurodivergent children in all subjects as a result of insufficient government funding and teacher training.

But it is especially “woeful” in Key Stage Two, Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four English where teachers and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) face higher workloads.
SEND provision is now so poor that the UK is unlikely to produce more than a handful of international bestselling autistic authors in the next decade, Simmons warned.
Simmons, who is neurodivergent and whose children have a range of hidden disabilities, said thousands of children are being robbed of a bright future in publishing and from emulating the success of other neurodivergent British authors
such as Elle McNicoll.
The claims are based on her own experiences and on those of more than 500 UK families with neurodivergent children whom she interviewed for her new book, ‘Raising Kids with Hidden Disabilities: Getting It’.
It provides practical parenting tips about managing everyday challenges in addition to legal advice and understanding children’s rights in education.
Her extensive Family and Friends series of guides to learning English were first published in 2007 and are still used by pupils and teachers across the world.
And in China, her Chinese Government-commissioned New Standard English series of teaching guides is used in hundreds of thousands of schools in the country.
Together, they are believed to be the most successful non-fiction titles in history with at least 550 million copies sold to date.
Whilst there are far more copies of the Bible, the Holy Quran, and The Little Red Book by Mao Zedong in existence, many are printed and given away free-of-charge.
Speaking yesterday Simmons, 60, who also ranks as of the top 10 bestselling British authors of all time together with JK Rowling and Enid Blyton, said that the lack of adequate SEND provision reveals a “shocking hypocrisy” between the treatment of youngster with visible and invisible disabilities.
She said: “Schools have come a long way in recognising the need to support pupils with visible disabilities, such as children in wheelchairs or those with learning difficulties.
“Yet for children with hidden disabilities, SEND provision remains woefully inadequate because the majority of mainstream schools are underfunded and are neither adequately trained nor properly equipped to offer neurodivergent children the
help they need to reach their potential.
“Depending on their conditions, neurodivergent children can struggle with the bustling school environment, be disruptive or inattentive in class, or have issues with time keeping and anxiety.
“But these are symptoms, not bad behaviour or a refusal to learn.
“Schools, however, are using ‘standardised’ teaching and testing when neurodivergent children are not standardised. As a result, many are being set up for failure by being held to the same strict, inflexible expectations of their neurotypical
peers.
“In an English lesson setting, and throughout the English education curriculum more generally — where neurodivergent students especially have the chance to shine — schools are systematically strangling creativity by rote.
“Thousands of capable children who may have had the potential of becoming the next great neurodivergent writer are being deprived of that future.
“It’s a shocking hypocrisy. If the needs of a child using a wheelchair were not met, for example by not providing access ramps, there would be an uproar over the infringement of their rights.”
She added: “It doesn’t need to be this way. When I first was approached by the Chinese Government to propose a new way of teaching English, their system was rigid and mechanical.
“I proposed three different approaches, but all of them in line with my philosophy and experience, that children learn best by having the freedom to express themselves creatively and without constraint.
“The Chinese adopted my most radical option, and after half a billion book sales this is still the basis of their English teaching to this day.”
It is reckoned that up to one in eight British children have a hidden disability.
Despite this, only 14 per cent of secondary teachers have received any neurodiversity training at all, according to the National Autistic Society.

Earlier this year, the government promised to “transform” SEND services in England with the introduction of new national standards and thousands more specialist school places to ensure that SEND children get “high-quality, early support”.
It followed a damning parliamentary report which found that many of the 1.3 million pupils in England with SEND were not getting the support they need and ended up being excluded from school, damaging their education, wellbeing, and future life chances.
But Simmons says that “no amount of funding or transformation” will make any difference unless neurodivergent children’s needs are first acknowledged.
She added: “Neurodiversity needs do not usually revolve around a lack academic ability, as often assumed by teachers, but a learning environment that allows the innovative young minds of neurodivergent children to flourish.
“Many neurodivergent children don’t need extra tuition to thrive but designated quiet spaces to work or decompress, homework amnesties, and the freedom to pursue their interests.
“Without a SEND provision which really ‘gets it’ thousands of neurodivergent children stand little chance of achieving, be it becoming a bestselling author, a scientist, engineer or anything else they are capable of.”