• Publication of The Prevalence of Autism (including Aspergers Syndrome) in School Age Children in Northern Ireland Annual report 2026
The Department of Health has today published The Prevalence of Autism (including Aspergers Syndrome) in School age Children in Northern Ireland. Annual report 2026. These figures have been extracted from the Northern Ireland School Census provided by the Department of Education.
Key Facts and Figures:
• The estimated prevalence of autism within the school aged population in Northern Ireland was 6.2% in 2025/26.
• There was a marked difference in the prevalence rates of autism between the sexes, with males 2.3 times more likely to be identified with autism than females.
• The Northern Ireland urban population has a statistically significant higher prevalence rate of autism than the rural population.
• Using the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (MDM) ranking, in 2025/26 the rate of autism in the most deprived MDM decile was over 38% higher than the Northern Ireland average.
• In 2025/26, 19% of children diagnosed with autism did not have any special educational needs, and 65% were classified at Stage 3 of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Assessment, indicating they had a Statement of SEN.
This information was collated by Community Information Branch within the Department of Health.
This publication is available online at:
www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/autism-statistics.
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Help re-shape SEN classroom support
More than 2,200 submissions have been received on planned reforms to special educational needs classroom support.
And there’s still time to have your say, with the public consultation running until Friday May 22nd.
Information on the Education Authority consultation and how to submit a response can be found at: Enhanced Support Model – Public Consultation | Education Authority Northern Ireland.
The aim of the planned reforms is to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEN.
EA has set out how this can be achieved through changing current rigid approaches to classroom support.
The EA is proposing to give schools more flexibility to tailor support to individual needs. Rather than adopting the current “one size fits all” model with its over reliance on individual classroom assistants at all stages, schools will be able to adapt support to the needs of their pupils with SEN at each stage of their development.
As part of the public consultation process, a series of information sessions has been held, both online and in-person.
Tomas Adell, EA’s Chief Transformation Officer, said: “We are very encouraged by the strong interest in the public consultation and the positive engagement with stakeholders.
“I would encourage everyone with an interest in SEN education to make their voices heard.
“This is a really important opportunity to make lasting changes that benefit children and young people.”
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