Mental Capital and Wellbeing: Making the most of ourselves in the 21st century State-of-Science Review: SR-D9 Social Cognition and School Exclusion

Mental Capital and Wellbeing. The views expressed do not represent the policy of any Government or organisation. 2Summary Exclusions from school for disruptive behaviour are of considerable concern to parents, to educators, and to society in general. For many children who are permanently excluded, persistent antisocial behaviour ensues, leading eventually to criminality. For some years, it has been suspected that when such behaviour begins in middle-childhood, the prognosis is worse, and that there are underlying neurodevelopmental deficits affecting social adjustment. In this review, we consider the evidence that a considerable proportion (up to one-third) of children excluded from primary school have autistic-like behaviours of mild to moderate severity, in the context of normal intelligence. Exclusion is associated with deficits in social-cognitive competence of an autistic character in an even higher proportion (up to 70%). The appropriate management of excluded children must take regard of these hitherto unrecognised, and hence untreated, conditions. Recommendations are made for better identification of, and interventions with, affected children