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Mr D Brian

@dbrian2.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.7K following 1.2K posts

UK primary teacher. Interested in fairness/outcomes for all children.

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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Any teachers come across this kind of thing? Chest height hand signals that replace hands up. I like the idea behind encouraging listening to each other but it's just created a huge amount of visual noise when there are 30 kids all making subtle gestures at chest height. Help!
Handle signals - thumb, a one potato 2 potato type sign etc.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Quite...
Damian Milton tells Sami Timimi that autism is a social construct.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This kind of thing... not even the half of it.
Parent detailing appalling send provision.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
these psychiatrists are promoting in relation to education reform before assuming their views are allied. This book is by far the most critical thing I've read of the school system, including high compliance, CLT and RP. Ben has cited Timimi's ideas in support of this stuff and yet here he is /2
States of Mind - Chris Bagley and Bea Herbert
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
complain when they arrive unprepared for adulthood. Maybe they aren't the main drivers, but they certainly exist. Acceptable collateral of the current system. Here's another ⏬️
Parent detailing lack of support for their autistic kid.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Chris Bagley and Bea Herbert's States of Mind front cover.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Interesting to see Timimi give such an enthusiastic endorsement to Chris Bagley (of Square Peg) and Bea Herbert's book.
Sami Timimi criticising the educational and mental health services.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Schools as unhealthy places for all children. Think this exemplifies the diagnosis critical position. Unlikely bedfellows with TLAC advocates...
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I've yet to meet a psychiatrist who hasn't got deep reservations about our education system.
Sami Timimi criticising the education system.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Children have died because they did not receive the help they were entitled to. It's unacceptable. Well said @chriscoghlanmp.bsky.social 👏👏👏
Chris Coghlan writing to Bridget Phillipson detailing LA SEND failures.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
❤️ Brighton
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Very good description of psychiatric diagnoses from @awaisaftab.bsky.social 👏👏👏 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...
Describes psychiatric diagnoses as clusters of behaviour.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
As a parent of an autistic child who missed most of his secondary education, this is just complete bullshit from someone who clearly has zero experience of how distressing this is.
Oh, some crap in The Times about autistic children not going to school because they think the world isn't made for them.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Lol. What support? My kid barely received a secondary education. The state abandoned him.
Extract from report detailing parents' experiences in Brighton and Hove in 2023.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Exactly. I've been shocked by the lack of accountability. Many of the responses to my Local Authority's glowing OFSTED look like this ⬇️ (there actually was a school but they closed it...)
Parent of autistic teen explaining SEND failures lEading to them becomimg NEET.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
great thing is that, on this scale, responding to the needs of the human in front of you provides the evidence. It's also worth noting that a questioning of the neurodiversity paradigm does not mean these children just need to have the adults take charge (as Timimi claims). I don't actually agree /4
Extract from a Mad in the UK blog about neurodiversity. Think one of the authors is Lucy Johnston (PTMF).
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
These are people who could be living fulfilling lives, but services are designed such that they are abandoned and often live far from view. The struggle to reintegrate into society is real and not helped by the current discourse. I don't think many people understand this because so much goes unseen.
Article from Ian Birrell: Lack of Autistic care is ruining lives.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
system. I'd have more time for your criticism of the current diagnostic model if you acknowledged that our education system does not include all humans and that this is beyond the capacity of individual teachers to fix. See below - not necessarily a view I share, but I've more time for it.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
In the interview, you state that teachers are well placed to support children. Whilst this os true for some, that certainly isn't the case for others. The experiencs listed below are too common. Dr Fisher has been promoting your views, and has a very different perspective on the education /1
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
that reduces human beings to a disembodied head with inputs/outputs... this is where you end up...
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Tbf, I do agree with her about this. If we had a education system that understood humans, we'd have fewer distressed children and fewer diagnoses. The conflict with LD is real, but if you only look at it through that lens, you miss something important. Honestly, if I see another edu book that /1
Naomj Fisher's views re autonomy + relationships.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
and it's happening in our schools on our watch. You write brilliantly about LD people, but I'm not convinced by your writing on the other group. Is that unfair?
SBC on suicidality in autistic people.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Think we need to remember who we're talking about. To what extent were teachers able to meet their needs?
Times investigation into children SEND whk took their own lives.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Interesting contribution to the "we all learn the same way" question from Dehaene. Feel a book purchase coming on...
There are no different styles. Dehaene notes that while individual differences are real, these differences exist on top of a common architecture. All human brains function and learn in the same way with some exceptions for developmental disorders (e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other developmental syndromes like autism and schizophrenia)."
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
My view is more in line with this:
If we got rid of diagnostic categories, abelism would remain.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
then be planned on that basis. There's been a lot of interest in Sami Timimi's book (that's the stuff about tautologies). The problem is that he is parent blamer. I have one child with severe anxiety and another with an eating disorder, so feel well placed to say that this extract (from his /2
Extract from Sami Timimi's book stating that parents of autistic children need to stop walking on eggshells and take control.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Some of the commentary is so clueless it's hard to know where to start... my kid is autistic/adhd is well-behaved and bright, and yet has 6 failed placements. The only thing that seems predictable is that schools and colleges cannot accommodate him.
Times piece stating autism/adhd are "predictable conditions".
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Appreciate this isn't for a school, but after our LA SEND inspection (which found that children were "at the heart" of services and received timely support), I am utterly done with OFSTED. If they cannot hold services accountable for this level of failure, there's no point.
The Ofsted report appears unfortunately to be a political whitewash trying to gloss over obvious failings in local authorities or not looking for them in order for the government not to be seen to be presiding over national failure of SEND children and families. Nearly 500 parental responses were submitted to the mASCot survey and they were all pretty devastating, but shockingly (or not) this was not represented in the Ofsted report.
The report congratulates the LA on opening a new provision for 30 autistic children without learning disabilities ‘The Hive’ when five years ago they closed an Ofsted rated “good” school for this group of children “Patcham House” saying there was no demand for it! During the intervening 5 years those children who would have been at Patcham house have been suffering in unsuitable schools, often pushed out and left unable to attend with no alternative education put in place, their parents have had to give up jobs to take care of them, pick up the pieces of their mental health and also provide an education as there is also an illegally set threshold to even achieve meagre tuition at home. My child was denied this for 2 years over what was essentially a paperwork error on the LAs part. Absolute shambles and no accountability and apology to these families. My child has received NO secondary school education from the LA except what was put online during covid. They are expected to take GCSEs next year. I am almost speechless at what a mess it’s been.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Just look at the state of this... Something is going badly wrong for these kids.
Excerpt showing high proportion of autistic children in inpatient units.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Bizarre story in the Mail today in which journo claims to be early victim of Ghislaine Maxwell because she falsely accused him of stealing her peanuts to get his chocolate bar when they were 5 yrs old. How can you even mention this in the same breath as victims of sex trafficking...
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Arse covering... #ofsted
Martyn Oliver expresses concerns over the merging of behaviour and attendance.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
I also find it strange how the response of some to his book has been almost entirely devoid of criticism.
Awais Aftab's criticism of Sami Timimi from a comment below the Sluggish blog.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
This picture is lodged deep in my memory.
Picture of toad covered in ice cream
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Yes, though I maintain MWBs are more common in primary than secondary, which I wd expect mitigates some of this.
Teacher tapp data showing MWB use in primary vs secondary (by subject)
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Literacy hour structure
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Pressure in school is part of the problem. ST knows this so I'm surprised he doesn't mention this in his book, given his criticism of compare and compete culture.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
This is from Timimi's book. It's the polar opposite of my experience. For us, an autism diagnosis brought clarity to a MH crisis. We deserve much better than this level of analysis.
Extract from Searching for Normal
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
This was v good and challenges the views of the critical psychiatrists like Timimi.
Gina Rippon The Lost Girls of Autism
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Extract from paper comparing DSM5 with Sukhareva
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Never forget.
John Pring's book, The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
This is the section - I've left in the section on ptsd as it's also relevant.
Autism and burnout + ptsd
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
epilepsy. No reply... I'd also add that simply "taking control" and saying no when autistic children are in a state of distress is, in my personal experience, dangerous. But the MH professionals don't have to manage the years of mental illness that follow, do they?
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
@carogileswrites.bsky.social
Book Cover: Caro Giles - Unschooled
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Recently read Caro Giles book, Unschooled. "When children are forced to deteriorate to such a poorly state, recovery is harder to manage and becomes a much longer process than it needs to be... A sick child cannot learn."
Extract from Caro Giles' book, Unschooled, describing a trip to gain mental health support for her child.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Wonder if I can use this in my next digital citizenship lesson...
Daily Mail article suggesting that social media influencers will look grotesque in the future.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
The strategy advocated here about parents taking charge really bothers me. Not only is it facile, but I've seen it backfire spectacularly with families being left to pick up the pieces.
Advice given to parents to take charge and say "no".
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Timely and important book that covers/uncovers the difficulties/trauma experienced by families when they are blamed for the illnesses/disabilities of their children. Plenty of coverage of false FII allegations. Parents of children failed by the SEND system will find the content all too familiar.
Understanding Parent Blame edited by Luke Clements and Ana Laura Aiello
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Really enjoyed the real-life stories paired with wider context in this book, but mostly, and unexpectedly, the opportunity to reappraise my teenage years. Also, made me think about how well we prepare and support our children through this stage of life. Also, much is made of school as the stage /1
Coming of Age by Lucy Foulkes
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
CW suicide: just in case part of this blog was a response to me. Pointing out suicide stats amongst autistic people is a reasonable response to O'Sullivan's book. For some of us, managing this risk, as a direct consequence of failures in our education/SEND/MH system is very real.
Baron Cohen pointing out suicide risk amongst autistic people.
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Mr D Brian @dbrian2.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
I often think about this...
Barney Angliss writing about inclusion in the SEND Huh book.
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